


Uncharted: Faces of the Damned

by FrancisVamp0822



Category: Gravity Falls, Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Crossover, Developing Friendships, Drama, Friendship, Harm to Children, Humor, Mystery, Supernatural Elements, Violence, long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 21:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11044878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrancisVamp0822/pseuds/FrancisVamp0822
Summary: Nathan and Sullivan were in the middle of a search until they find a clue, which leads them to a small town of Oregon, Gravity Falls; where many strange things happen everyday. As they meet some people in The Mystery Shack, Dipper soon will learn that their investigation it's related to the Author of the Journals. Join Nathan Drake and The Pine Twins in an adventure which will uncover many secrets behind the "lost artifact" they're looking for, but also will face the dangers, including some people who has the same objective but with different purpose.





	1. Greatness For Small Begginings

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, how's it going? To publish my first fanfiction in this webiste, I'd like to show you something that probably you never expected you thought I, or someone, would do that. As you see the title, it's a crossover of Gravity Falls and Uncharted. I believe you never saw that coming before, didn't you?
> 
> One thing I want to say before you'll start reading, please. I seriously love Gravity Falls, I mean, I FREAKING LOVE THIS CARTOON! I've never chose a moment to watch an episode of this show, but when many people started to talk how awesome was this series, I finally decided to check out and eventually watched too many episodes before the second season would end.
> 
> I was so distracted of how amazing was this cartoon and I wanted to write a fanfiction. However, I couldn't come up an original plot. I spend for weeks trying to find the answer until an idea came to my mind. How can you imagine when supernatural mysteries are mixed with historical? That's when I decided to make a crossover with Uncharted. I've been playing The Nathan Collection and I became so interested on the story, the characters, and the historical myths they were talking about. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to feature Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan in an adventure with the Pine twins and the others.
> 
> I understand if some of you have any doubts of this concept, but if you check out I'm sure you're gonna like it.
> 
> One thing you should know about, this story is a non-canon, that means it can't be a prequel or sequel between the three titles of Uncharted and you will see only one difference on Nathan Drake's appearance. And what about Gravity Falls? Well, I'd say the story sets around the first episodes of the second season, maybe before Stan's lost twin brother appearance.
> 
> Anyways, hope you'll like what I did. I don't own Gravity Falls and Uncharted, all rights are reserved by its own creators.

** CHAPTER 1: Greatness For Small Beginnings. **

 

It was a hot and sunny day upon the blue quiet and crystalline freshwaters of Klamath Lake, Oregon; surrounded by widespread marshes and wetlands before going further into the land covered with trees. With the horizon showing a high tall mountain far away that anyone could see it from that distance.

Some people from Klamath Falls spend their time on the lake for fishing around or to embark for a trip across the water and enjoy the beautiful environment, mostly on canoes or kayaks. Currently there was a sailboat, as the strong wind blows to the sailcloth, providing enough movement towards the south of the lake. The sailboat was already between the East side of a small island, which was partially covered by forest trees, and a dike which divides an irrigated field and wetland beside.

The person who's in charge at the wheel of the boat was a Caucasian grey-eyed man around forties, pretty wiry build despite his current age, with a regular moustache and his recent shaven beard; his dark hair was slicked back, without any sign he had used any product of gel like these days. Wearing with a light green Havana shirt with the sleeves rolled up, which was unbuttoned that reveals his white cotton shirt and a chain necklace around his neck and a pair of beige cargo pants with a belt buckled up.

He was not alone, however. He has a partner.

There was a teenage boy, with an average build and doesn't seem he could be the son because his facial features don't match as the middle-aged man. He's around fifteen-years old, with thick dark brown hair and blue-grey eyes. And he's wearing a blue navy sleeveless jacket with a white shirt underneath, with the red sleeves rolled up as well; and jeans, but he also wears a lanyard around his neck with the silver ring, which has an inscription of three Latin words engraved in it, also there was a date of _29_ _th_ _January 1596_ inside of the shank. He also was carrying a leather messenger bag with the adjustable strap wrapped around his torso.

The young boy was at the bow of the boat while focusing on a printed photograph, which it was taken from a satellite and shows the South zone of Klamath Lake, with a red circle which marks the exact position he and the man are currently standing in. Therefore, it appears they were looking for something which is found around the spot as marked on the picture.

"Are you sure this is the right place, kid?" The man at the wheel said with a deep voice and a very distinctive accent, probably must be from New York.

The teenager took his eyes off the photo as he turned to his partner. "This must be it, Sully. I'm not sure if what we're looking it's right under our feet, though." He replied. His voice didn't sound a little older despite his current age, didn't sound childish either. Nevertheless, he was acting like a mature one with confidence. He kept the printed photograph on his messenger bag as he leaned himself forward against the rails to continue watching the beautiful natural color of the water. This is like it's the first time sailing through a lake that somehow feels refreshing, even though that's not the reason why he's here.

"Well, better go get the wetsuit and get ready to go underwater." The man, now named Sully or Sullivan since it must be his real name, stepped away from the steering helm before going towards below deck where he's keeping the diving equipment to change his clothes.

"It doesn't look very deep. Don't you think you can just jump into the lake right now without that suit?" The young boy asked humorlessly with a grin, feeling ready to hear the obvious answer from the old man, who turned to him with a frown of disagreement when he knew his partner was just joking.

"Are you crazy? There's no way I'll swim in that friggin' cold water and get my underpants wet! So no, thank you." Ignoring the laugh from the teenager, the 40-year old man went inside.

A few moments later, Sullivan came out from below deck now fully dressed with the complete scuba set, included the small bailout cylinder of oxygen on his back. He walked with his towards the young teenager, still watching the surroundings through Klamath Lake in silence, as a sign he was clearing his mind to feel the refreshing weather.

"Are you sure you don't want to tag along, Nathan? There's another wetsuit with your size and maybe I'd need some help to find what's found at the bottom of the lake." He asked like he was deliberately offering the boy some moment of fun doing a scuba diving.

Nathan took a moment to stop staring at the Lake to turn his gaze at Sullivan with a small smile."I'd like to come with you, but someone has to stay in this boat and make sure if we are alone. Remember that time a couple of thugs almost stole your car when you left your keys inside?"

Sullivan suddenly let out a chuckle, how could he ever forget the most carelessness thing he did not too long ago back in South America? He didn't bother to be reminded, since he's not a warily person who can finish a job properly, that's why he find it funny to laugh. However, he felt a tingle of disappointment at the kid's answer; he was pretty sure Nathan would like to scuba dive with him after he saw the boy never look away from the water. In fact, he never felt they were being followed, and there's no any one more person in sight. Maybe Nathan just wanted to take precautions in case of an imminent problem, but he just need at least have a moment with fun to remove the concerns on his mind. Unfortunately, Sullivan got no position to boss him around because he doesn't have a higher level of authority, not to mention they don't share the same blood.

"Very well," He said after letting out a sigh. "I won't take too long down here. If anything happens, try to make a sound as loud as you can if you need my help." Then, he stood on the edge and as he prepared to make a jump into the water, he put the pressure regulator on his mouth and placed the mask over his eyes. Afterwards, he took a dive, splashing the surface while some drops almost splattered on Nathan's face. He grumbled under his breath as he dried himself with his hand.

Fortunately, it wasn't necessary to bring a flashlight because thanks by the brightness of the sunlight that illuminates upon the water, he can see perfectly clear beneath the surface. So Sullivan began to descend towards the bottom of the lake, while looking around only to find a bunch of salmons swimming around him and the green aquatic plants on the floor. Normally any person would feel amazed because this was the first occasion someone would venture underwater, but Sullivan just ignored the view and continued with his search.

After swimming away from the boat for several feet, when he turned his gaze to his left, his eyes finally caught that he knew all along what he was gonna find. A small square chest partially buried under the dirt, surely this was left not too long ago because it should be practically buried a little deeper and covered with some plants. Though the texture of the wood's natural color has changed into darker and the steel was also rusted.

Sullivan went closer to the chest before he dusted the dirt off, then he picked up the chest, before he almost went surprised because the moment he carried the chest, he felt that the weight was incredibly lighter than he thought. That just made to ask himself what's inside, somehow he thought this might be empty, and he did not like that theory because this is the only that makes sense. But instead of jumping the conclusion, he placed the chest under his arm and swam up towards the surface on his way back to the boat.

Nathan was reading a comic book to entertaining himself, rather than watching all over the lake like a guard in a watchtower from a prison, before recently noticed Sullivan comes out of the water and saw he was carrying a small chest. "Wow, you found it really quickly?" He asked with a surprised tone. And he thought Sully would take an hour and spend a boring day doing nothing.

Sullivan took out the regulator of his mouth to flash a grin. "I told you to never underestimate the older treasure hunter, kid." He replied with a proud tone, as he handed the chest to Nathan before he climbed up into the prow, with a little help from the boy after he placed the chest beside him.

Afterwards, Nathan decided to check out the chest before opening it, while Sullivan removed the oxygen tank off his back and the mask. Then he ruffled his hair dry so he'll comb to his usual hairstyle.

"Hmm, that's strange… This doesn't seem very old as I thought it would be. Maybe this was left in the water for decades." Nathan said out loud like he wanted to talk himself so he could help him to gather some answers by his own.

"Who cares how old is it? Let's just open it and let's get this over with. I hope the waste the half of our goddamn summer vacation has better be worth it after you dragged me into this." Sullivan said.

"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't give you the chance to go to the beach in Acapulco, but you have to learn the fun side of our first adventures together! Besides, once we finish this simple job we'll get the enough money to survive for the whole year." Drake replied.

"That's why I signed the contract, so I guess you're right."

Nathan struggled to open the chest manually, without success. "Dammit, I think it's locked with a key." He turned to his partner with a smile as he motioned the "Would you do the honor?"

Sullivan grinned. He went to the below deck and moments later he showed up with a crowbar before he walked back to the chest, as Nathan stepped aside with his arms crossed.

"I like when you need my assistance just because I'm the muscle." He said with a small tease in his tone, before jamming it into the keylock as he gripped the handle with both of his hands to find the moment for a struggle.

"I don't need the strength to open it. I'd just try to pick-locking right now if we've never met in Colombia. And enjoy your last ten years being Hercules while you can, but soon or later your muscles will start to deflate like a balloon running out of air." Drake taunted him with a grin that made the 40-year old man twitching by realizing the sad fact.

"Oh, shut up! Your jokes are starting to make me feel too old."

Sullivan took a breath before he pushed down the crowbar with all his might before the chest snapped open with a loud crack like a sound of hitting metal. After that, Nathan went to check the now opened chest in excitement to see what kind of discovery they just found. But suddenly, his smile just disappeared.

"What the…" Nathan's eyes were widened in shock at the most unexpected and probably the strangest plot twist he could ever experience.

There was nothing inside. Except that there was a glass bottle and nothing more.

Sullivan noticed his partner's reaction before he suddenly realized his theory was sadly right from the beginning.

"I knew it! Since the moment I grabbed that chest I've know this would be empty! God our boss is gonna be so pissed about this!"

"Sully, wait! First of all, relax man; and look at this." Nathan grabbed the bottle before he showed it to Sullivan. The old man saw there's a rolled paper inside. "Maybe this will give us a reason behind what's going on, there must be a reason behind this." Nathan replied as he pulled the cork out, before bobbing the bottle up and down twice until the paper fell into his hand.

Then, he unrolled it and reveals it was a message. Fortunately, the ink pen didn't seem worn by the years, so it's easy enough to read. Nathan began to read it out loud as Sullivan was beside him, listening attentively. Even though sometimes he's not particularly interested they just found a message, but what he really needs is an answer.

_If you're reading this is because you somehow found out about the chest and right now you're wondering about why I left a message inside. To answer your important question, I hid what you're looking for in another place that no one, but me, knows where it is._

_However, I won't simply gonna tell you exactly where it is because I don't trust you. I don't know what are your reasons you want to find it, but I have to warn you to stay out of this. Unfortunately for me, I'm sure you wouldn't listen to me._

_If you are seriously willing to continue your investigation, then I'll challenge you to solve a puzzle that will test your intellect. If you succeeded it, you'll have my attention._

_9 – 13 20 – 18 – 1 – 16 – 16 – 5 – 4 9 – 14 – 19 – 9 – 4 – 5 20 – 8 – 5 9 – 14 – 6 – 9 – 14 – 9 – 20 – 5. 5 1 – 13 19 – 21 – 18 – 18 – 15 – 21 – 14 – 4 – 5 – 4 2 – 25 1 – 14 5 – 14 – 4 – 12 – 5 – 19 – 19 4 – 1 – 18 – 11 – 14 – 5 – 19 – 19, 2 – 21 – 20 20 – 8 – 5 12 – 9 – 7 – 8 – 20 18 – 5 – 13 – 1 – 9 – 14 – 19 23 – 9 – 29 – 8 13 – 5. 20 – 8 – 5 12 – 9 – 7 – 8 – 20 15 – 14 – 12 – 25 23 – 9 – 12 – 12 2 – 5 6 – 15 – 21 – 14 – 4 23 – 8 – 5 – 28 – 5 9 – 20 – 19 19 – 3 – 5 – 14 – 5 – 18 – 25 15 – 6 7 – 18 – 5 – 5 – 14 8 – 1 – 18 – 13 – 15 – 14 – 25, 8 – 9 – 4 – 9 – 14 – 7 1 – 23 – 1 – 25 20 – 8 – 5 13 – 25 – 19 – 20 – 5 – 28 – 9 – 5 – 19 6 – 18 – 15 – 13 20 – 8 – 5 15 – 12 – 20 – 19 – 9 – 4 – 5 23 – 15 – 18 – 12 – 4. 1 – 20 20 – 8 – 5 5 – 14 – 4, 20 – 8 – 5 23 – 9 – 12 – 12 23 – 9 – 12 – 12 6 – 12 – 15 – 23 9 – 14 – 20 – 15 20 – 8 – 5 7 – 18 – 1 – 22 – 9 – 20 – 25 15 – 6 23 – 8 – 5 – 18 – 5 23 – 9 – 12 – 12 2 – 5 20 – 8 – 5 – 9 – 18 12 – 1 – 19 – 20 13 – 5 – 5 – 20 – 9 – 14 – 7._

"What the hell is this?" Sullivan asked with his bemuse expression when he read the numbers.

"I don't know… It looks like some sort of a secret code…" He trailed off when his eyes went more focused on the strange series of numbers. "Wait, I think I've seen something like this before!" Nathan said in surprise.

"You're sure?" Sullivan asked with an eyebrow raised.

Nathan gave his partner a nod. "When I was in the orphanage, I read a book about the cryptograms. It's a type of puzzle that you have to decipher the text in order to decode a hidden message. There are other types of crypto puzzles and most of them are really, I mean, really complicated. But fortunately this one is simple. I learned that the numbers of one to twenty six follows the alphabet. It's easy enough to decipher this code."

"So are you telling me that you can turn these numbers into letters?" Sullivan inquired.

"To be honest, this is the first time I'd do something like this, but I guess I can do it." Nathan replied with a nod of confidence.

Sullivan let out an irritated sigh. "Great, now we have to solve riddles like in the movies? This is gonna take us forever."

"Oh come on, I think this is gonna be awesome!" Nathan said with enthusiasm as he rolled the paper and kept inside the pocket of his jeans. "But I suggest you have to tell him about this."

Sullivan turned to Nathan with incredulity on his eyes. "Wait just a second, why it has to be me? Do you have any idea how he's going to react if we'll say there's nothing in the chest? He's gonna act like Yosemite Sam!"

"It's better than keep this in secret. You know he doesn't like we won't keep him in touch for details. Besides, I'll be busy deciphering the hidden message once we hit the land." Nathan replied with a smug grin.

Sullivan narrowed his eyes resentfully. "You are a brat, you know that?"

Nathan smiled in response. "I've always been, Sully. I've always been."

* * *

"Listen, we're doing what we can to get the bottom of this, but I can't assure we can find the artifact in no time."

Sullivan was on the pay phone, outside of a small two-story hotel across the street where it's 15 miles from Klamath Lake to the Southwest. He was talking to the contact who apparently is the one who sent him and Nathan to the lake to find that chest. And as Sullivan knew it, the news didn't please him for the fact they found nothing.

The treasure hunter man suddenly frowned, his presumably client started to scowl at him, that he just made a call to bring the bad news.

"Now you listen to me! I'm also in a bad mood because we'll have new puzzle games in the future that could slow down our progress, but if you try to blame this on me, I'll-" He was suddenly cut off, when the stranger answered his complain that actually shut him up.

Sullivan sighed exasperatedly as he rubbed his eyes. "Alright, I'm sorry, _sir_." He hissed on the last part, since it's pretty annoying for him to call him like that person's actually a boss who deserves to have respect from his employees. "Just leave me and Nathan to take care all of this and we'll let you know once we find the artifact for real. That's all what I'm asking you, okay?"

There's been a brief silence when the other line answered.

"Thank you, goodbye." He hanged up the phone before he let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God this is over."

Sullivan then crossed the street, without the need to look to the sides before because the street seemed a little quiet since the sunset was coming, as he made his way towards the hotel before going upstairs and went into the room "6".

The size of the room wasn't very small, it has two singular beds and a nightstand with a lamp on top stood between them against the wall painted in beige. To the other side there was a wooden cabinet with a small TV and beside it a small refrigerator.

Sullivan found the young boy Nathan sitting on a table, still working on traducing the numbers from the message by writing the hidden letters with another paper. It appears to be more focus since he was containing the excitement to resolve the easiest puzzle.

"How did it go?" Nathan asked after he noticed Sullivan's arrival; taking a little break from traducing the numbers for a moment.

"He agreed to give us more time to find more clues, but that jerk almost pissed me off for reminding us why he agreed to hire us. He just got lucky we're not in person so I could just shut him up." He shook his head as he decided to change the subject. "So, how you're doing with the puzzle?"

"This feels like I'm studying for history exam." Nathan replied with a smile. "So I'm almost done, just give me a minute." He continued to write down the other paper while taking the brief look at the last numbers.

Sullivan nodded as he laid down on his own bed with his arms behind his neck. He can't help but feel thankful that boy knows how to pull this off, otherwise they'd be stuck forever without Nathan's knowledge about the cryptograms. However, he also felt a little jealous of the fact that a teenager like Nathan's the one who can fix a problem, he's thankful though, but sometimes he wished he could be useful forsome things. Well, he knows how to fight, shoot armed and dangerous people, even he can make escape plans, but sadly that doesn't help with the puzzles to continue with the investigations.

It's like he's out of the case.

"Done! I made it!" Sullivan snapped out from his thoughts when Nathan exclaimed as he stood up from the chair with the paper now completely written as he walked up towards to Sullivan.

"What did you find out?" Sullivan asked.

"It seems we have ourselves a riddle." Nathan cleared his throat to read what it says. "I'm trapped inside the infinite. I am surrounded by the darkness, but the light remains with me. The light will only be found where its scenery of green harmony, hiding away the mysteries from the outside world. At the end, the falls will flow into the gravity where will be their last meeting."

Sullivan snorted in response "I bet that guy tried to be poetic, but now the question is: How the hell can we find out what does that mean?"

"I don't know, but I think the second and third sentence is talking about the next place we should go to find the next clue. I don't know if it's somewhere else or right here in Oregon."

"What's the point to hide a lost artifact to another state he wouldn't know where could hide it? I mean, if he knew where he could hide the chest in the lake, then he's probably from this state. Don't you think that's obvious?"

Nathan remained speechless for a moment. "Yeah, you're right." Nathan admitted, much to Sullivan's agreement, but pleased that he just made a good point. "But still, we need to find out where."

Sullivan sighed irritably as he sat up on the edge of the bed "The bad news is that we mustn't take this much longer, we have to take the first and last attempt. It's now or never." He pointed out.

Nathan bit his lower lip as he sat beside him, as he decided to repeat the parts of the riddle what brought him attention. "The light will only be found where its scenery of green harmony… The falls will flow into the gravity…" He turned his gaze off the paper to Sullivan. "Maybe we have to search to a place where has in common what describes in this riddle."

"In common? What do you mean?" Sullivan inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"The green harmony may refer to the nature. It must be a forest where has waterfalls. Do you have the map of Oregon?" He asked.

Sullivan nodded with his head. "It's still on my backpack over there." He pointed it where it was laid beside the TV stand.

"Good, let's start to find the forest areas around." Nathan said as he opened the backpack and took out the map, before he unfolded it, revealing the whole coastal state of Oregon with all the names of the cities, and stuck onto the wall by putting a couple of tacks on the corners.

Sullivan sighed as he shook his head at the boy's unstopping effort of looking for answers. "Nathan, I understand why do you think it's important, but can't you just take a little moment of break?"

"I'd need that, really. But the friggin' intrigue is killing me. If I don't do something about it right now to clear my head, maybe I won't get some sleep." Nathan replied frankly.

Sullivan stood from the bed as he stood behind of Nathan. "No mean to disappoint you kid, but what you're doin' isn't going to help us. How about we can start it by tomorrow?" He said, trying to be subtle as long as he could convince the boy.

Nathan kept focusing on the map, like Sullivan's words didn't reach to his ears. However, as he was struggling to solve the riddle fast, the more he was running out of ideas. Eventually, he was forced to give up because he already knew they don't have enough information to find the right location. In fact, what would happen if they pick the wrong place and start again? Or maybe they'll do the same mistake?

Sighing in defeat, he decided to quit the puzzle for now. "I guess you're right. I think I should do something else instead." Then he walked towards to the door.

"Where you're going?" Sullivan asked.

"I'll just go to the store across the street to buy a drink, do you need something?" Nathan asked as he opened the door.

"No, thanks. Just be careful out there." Sullivan replied.

Nathan nodded before he walked out of the room, as Sullivan turned on the TV to just see if there's something entertaining.

* * *

After buying a bottle of soda, Nathan just exited the convenience store and walked through the sidewalk back to the hotel, for a couple of blocks from here. The light illuminated the deserted street since it was already night, though Nathan didn't have the good feeling of being alone. He went through many years as a homeless orphan until he was saved by Sullivan when he was pursued by black suited men from an unknown organization in Columbia not too long ago. Afterwards they agreed to form a team and eventually became friends. Thanks to his partner, Nathan learned more things to have more possibilities to survive if he was on his own. Nevertheless, he should always watch his back for any unexpected moment.

Just before he decided to take a sip of his soda as he was about to turn around the corner, he didn't notice a person nearby before they bumped each other. Nathan stumbled before his back hit on the wall, as his shirt got stained when the soda splattered and fell to the ground. Nathan turned his head to the person, who turned out to be a man, just walking away like he didn't see Nathan on his way.

"Hey, at least you should apologize!" Nathan yelled angrily, only to be ignored by the stranger before he was now out of sight. "Jackass…" He grumbled.

He was about to continue his way, but then he stepped something that made him stop. Nathan looked down as he raised his foot and saw some kind of a travel pamphlet. Raising his eyebrow in curiosity, he decided to pick it up as the light shone upon him to have a better view.

It was indeed a travel brochure, but he couldn't help but feel kinda confused when he read the name of a suppose town, Gravity Falls. He unfolded to read some information about the place, its history, attractions and even the natural beauty, while he continued to walk. One of the images shows the view of a valley in the sunset, with two rocky cliffs facing each other and a rail bridge connecting between them, but one strange detail he suddenly noticed the cliffs is oddly shaped like an UFO. Anyways, the far side of the right cliff, there was a waterfall which flows down to a small lake. And on the bottom of the valley, it could see the small town with a trail of river surrounded by the great pine forests.

Nathan thought this place seemed very nice to visit if he and Sullivan weren't busy right now. However, he was still puzzled about the name of the town."

"So Gravity Falls, huh? I wonder how someone came up that name and…" He trailed off, when his mind began to analyze the detail that made him stop his tracks. His eyes never took off the name as he heard something like this before. And so, he looked back on the next words he read it moments ago.

_The_ _**falls** _ _will flow into the_ _**gravity** _ _…_

He checked the image of the town in the valley again, before he gasped

"Holy crap! That's it!" Nathan exclaimed before he took a run.

When he reached the hotel he took upstairs quickly and when he was facing at the door of his room, he opened abruptly by ramming it like the wind broke it down.

"Sully!"

Sullivan jumped from his bed by surprise when he was still watching the TV as he turned to Nathan.

"Son of a- What's goin' on now?!" Sullivan yelled because he almost got a heart attack after the unexpected action from the boy.

"Sully! I think I know where we're heading!" Nathan exclaimed excitedly as he walked up to him, completely ignoring the question.

Sullivan blinked twice before he placed his hand across his face and shook his head. "Are you serious, right now?" He groaned as he rubbed his eyes.

"I know! I know this is very soon I came up a conclusion, but just listen to me for a sec'!" Nathan pleaded as he handed the pamphlet. "The clues from the riddle match with the information about this small town! Remember that sentence about the falls flowing into the gravity? It's talking about Gravity Falls!" He pointed to the name from the cover. "You may think this is just a coincidence, but another reason Gravity Falls might be our destiny is because it's also surrounded by harmony of nature, just like the riddle says. Everything fits and there's no way another place share the same description!"

Sullivan went completely speechless after Nathan's explanation, he just stared at him before he looked back at the pamphlet, after an awkward moment of silence he finally spoke.

"Okay, before I'll give you my answer, I want to know where you'd take this." Sullivan asked.

"When I got out from the convenience store, a man just bumped into me and this pamphlet must fell out of his pocket and he didn't notice." Nathan replied.

"And you didn't even return it to him?" Sullivan said with a frown, almost as a scowl.

"That jerk didn't say sorry after he spilled my soda." Nathan retorted, pointing to his wet shirt. "He doesn't deserve my generosity." He shook his head to go back to the subject. "Look, the point is our next clue finds somewhere in there. I know this may sound crazy, but you have to trust me."

Sullivan turned around and made a few steps forward while reading the content of the travel brochure, he was still perplexed that he couldn't decide to say to Nathan yes or no. So many different questions are filling up his mind and he had to choose the only one before he'll make a decision.

He turned around to face Nathan with a serious expression. "Are you really, REALLY sure that this is where we have to go?" Sullivan asked.

Without thinking straight, Nathan responded. "Sully, I give everything I have, even my soul on the bet that this is the exact spot!"

Sullivan took a breath and let out a sigh. "Alright then. Tomorrow we'll go in there after breakfast. But for now let's take a rest for Christ' sake, I'm already tired." He walked back to the bed.

"Sully." Nathan spoke.

"Yeah?" Sullivan turned at him with a reluctant tone.

"I just want to thank you for listening to me, for the moment I thought you would disagree, but I knew you wouldn't." Nathan gave him a smile as he also gave Sullivan a friendly pat on his shoulder.

Sullivan just blinked before he shrugged. "Don't mention it, hope you're not wrong about this though. But let me remind you for the last time so you can stick it in your head. This is our first and last try because our client doesn't allow mistakes, or we're done."

Nathan crossed his arms and nodded with his head in understanding, but with reflection on his face. "Yeah... I hope so too."

* * *

On the next day, Sullivan was driving on a four-door grey sedan across a deserted highway, following the directions with the map to the eastern zone of Oregon, where they'll find the town of Gravity Falls. Nathan was beside him on the passenger sit, and he was asleep because he gets easily bored when he's in a trip without doing anything for hours, even though he was enjoying listening to an 80's song on the radio.

He was getting a nice dreaming about being the most known explorer who was born to find secrets behind the historical legends that are not yet resolved and hidden treasures. Also he was very excited to imagine what kind of discovery he'll witness once he'll find the lost artifact the client talked too much about. Unfortunately for him, it was interrupted when Sullivan shook him to wake him up.

"Hey, wake up, kid. We arrived."

Nathan groaned as he rubbed his eyes before cracking them open. One thing he suddenly noticed to his right was a wooden water tower, with the name of Gravity Falls engraved in it. Once they just passed it he could also notice the water tower was spray-painted by behind. It seems like a mushroom cloud, but Nathan thought this looks definitely like a giant muffin. Someone should need more practice with the spray painting.

Nathan recently figured they're about to get inside the town, after he saw a small but abandoned convenience store surrounded by a fence with barb wire. He began to look around the group of houses and shops.

"Huh, this place doesn't look bad at all. And apparently I don't see many police officers around here, that's good news." Nathan said.

Sullivan snorted. "Is it because you want to become a wanted criminal in here?" He only joked when he remembered Nathan used to be an insignificant thief once he stole his wallet.

Nathan scoffed. "Look who's talking, an old man who one time went into the women bathroom when he was drunk and puke on a sink instead on a toilet." He laughed.

"That was not a crime, it was just an accident!" Sullivan defended with shame as he stopped the car at the red light from the traffic light.

Nathan decided to leave him alone, but it was really funny to remind him that incident, though he should seriously control his alcohol consumption.

While Sullivan was trying to forget that memory, his stomach began to rumble. They didn't eat too much this morning and haven't grabbed a bite during the trip. After he crossed the crossroad when the light was green, he began to survey around the street, looking somewhere to have a nice meal this time. Then he noticed a place which could be a restaurant as he talked to Nathan.

"Hey, are you hungry? We can stop to that place over there and grab something to eat." He pointed to a small building which literally has the shape of a big piece of redwood log. There was even a stump on its right that could probably mean the tree was cut down before turning into an establishment. Three windows and the entrance door with red and white awnings above them, and underneath the main sign which has the name of the restaurant, "Greasy's Diner" was a smaller sign with the slogan "We have food". The restaurant was on a train cart with steps that leads the entrance and the back door as well, and it's labeled "Gravity Falls 1883", which probably means the date when this town was established.

"Sure, why not?" Nathan responded with a shrug.

Sullivan parked the vehicle in an open space from the parking lot. Afterwards, they went into the restaurant. Everything in the interior was practically made of wood, even a row of ten booths with square tables and ten stool chairs sorted across the long countertop. There were a few decorations like the round lamps hung above the tables, some plants on the shelf, and pictures of the outskirts of the town on the walls, even there was a jukebox machine to the far side.

Nathan and Sullivan took one of the unoccupied tables and wait until a waitress showed up to serve them. She's around fifty years, with gray hair in a beehive style and wears pinkish mauve lipstick. The old lady has a hint of double chin, and her fingernails are long and painted in red. Her uniform was a grayish rose dress and a white apron around her waist with a brown stain that surely it's from a coffee. However, the only one thing she got their attention, was that one of her eyes was permanently closed, it would look like she's winking but doesn't seem like she's doing it.

"Good afternoon, sunshines! Would you like to check out our menu before I take your order?" The waitress asked.

Sullivan blinked a few times before snapping out of staring at her lazy eye. "Oh, y-yeah, we'd like to. Thank you, miss."

After the waitress went for the menus, Sullivan turned to Nathan. "Dude, is it me or some people here are pretty strange than we ever found?" He asked.

Nathan could understand what he was meaning. Aside for the waitress, the moment when they entered Greasy's Diner, he also saw a big, bearded and muscular man who wears a stereotypical lumberjack outfit. Suddenly, and old, deranged hillbilly was running to the exit with a raw turkey under his arm.

"You ain't gonna eat this innocent soul while I'm still alive! Long live to the headless peeled chickens!" The hillbilly yelled to Sullivan and Nathan, holding his fist into the air like he was declaring a new revolution.

"Hey, give it back you wild geezer!" A worker came out from the kitchen while holding a spatula.

"You gotta catch me first!" The hillbilly laughed insanely as he went through the door as the worker continued to chase him down.

Nathan only blinked what he just witnessed. "Yeah… At least nobody is giving us a glare just for being strangers." Nathan replied, as Sullivan nodded in agreement.

Moments later, the waitress has delivered their foods since Sullivan has ordered a country fried steak and Nathan a hamburger with French fries. However, Nathan didn't take a single bite because he spent staring at the message they've found on the lake, mostly on the numbers from the crypto puzzle he traduced. Sullivan barely noticed what he's doing before he let out an irritated sigh and shook his head.

"Kid, would you stop staring at those goddamn numbers and at least eat? Your food is gonna get cold."

Nathan went back from his reality and he decided to keep the paper on his pocket. "Sorry, it's just that I can't understand the reason why a person who hides an artifact left us a hidden message and gave us the clue to help us to continue our search." He said as he grabbed a ketchup bottle and poured to his French fries and his hamburger.

"What am I suppose to know? Maybe there's something special that nobody, but us, must not know about it." He just assumed as he continued to eat his steak.

"That's probably the case, but why helping us what to do?" Nathan shook his head to clear the questions off his mind. "Maybe we'll get the answer if we find more clues."

"So what do you think we should do first?" Sullivan asked.

"Very good question, I think we should start exploring to know about this town and we may find something that could give us a hint."

"Sounds a good plan to begin. In the meantime, let's just enjoy the meal and watch some TV shall we?"

Their gazes turned on the wall mounted television in the corner. Right that moment a commercial started with a white question mark in the dark background. Suddenly, an old man revealed himself on the screen. He has gray eyebrows and gray hair, and with tenacious stubble. His facial features were pretty weird because of his large, droopy and pear-shaped reddish-pinkish nose, and large ears. He wears a couple of rectangular glasses with black rim, but he also wears an eyepatch on his right eye. His outfit consist a black suit with the jacket buttoned close, a white shirt under his suit with a red bowtie, and a red fez which bore a yellow crescent with a dot next to it. He also was holding a cane, the only different about it is that it's topped by a billiard 8-ball.

However, Sullivan and Nathan noticed his figure was evolved with green screen parts, maybe from the Chroma key that it wasn't cut off the background. Talk about poorly edition.

" _Hi, I'm Mr. Mystery. Do you like to be befuddled?"_ The word popped up next to him, then the word "Bewildered" was next. _"Bewel-Bewels… Wel-Weldered… Beweldered-"_ The old man named Mr. Mystery stammered for the difficult to pronounce that word.

The image suddenly went fast forward until he finally pronounced it right.

" _Bewildered? Then behold!"_ He drove his fist down and the smoke erupted behind him, the picture froze for a brief moment until the scene was cut off to the front view of an old, pretty bad maintained two-story shack.

" _Mystery Shack!"_ Mr. Mystery popped up, still with the green screen errors around his body as he announced. " _Your one-stop shop for mysteriously cheap oddities!"_

Suddenly, he was interrupted when a boom pool fell in the scene and accidentally hit on his face.

" _Ow! Son of a-!"_

The scene was cut abruptly to a black screen before some images appeared one after another of strange articles the Mystery Shack has.

" _Gaze in amazement at wonders so bizarre, they defy the laws of nature!"_

Nathan and Sullivan burst out laughing when an image of Mr. Mystery shaving his back was revealed.

The scene was cut to Mr. Mystery, standing discreetly behind of an suppose customer

" _And in some cases, the very laws of police!"_

Mr. Mystery just realized he's being busted by the camera. _"HEY, HEY, GET OUTTA HERE!"_ He covered it with his hand as the screen turned black. Then, the scene cuts to a dissected two-headed wolf with the body of a bird.

" _A two-headed WHAAAAT?"_

The scene cuts again to a pair of glasses and a hat, hanged with stringers coming from the ceiling down to make look like a portrait of an invisible man, ridiculous though.

" _An invisible WHOOOO?"_

Mr. Mystery appeared again on screen, with wooden question marks falling down behind him.

" _So many questions-"_ A couple of question marks just fell on the old man's head. _"OW! OUCH! Come on!"_

A new scene reveals a half-eaten popsicle on the ground with a piece of hair on it and a fly buzzing around, with a text of "SNACKS!" as an arrow was flashing on the screen.

" _Plus, there's snacks to the kids! You can eat that… Try and stop "you"..."_

The next scenes showed a group of customers buying something inside of Mystery Shack, before it was paused and Mr. Mystery showed up.

" _But don't take it from me."_

" _Take it from ME."_ A "clone" of Mr. Mystery appeared next to the real one.

" _What? Who are you?"_ He asked trying to act like he's surprised.

The clone remained silent for a couple of seconds.

" _I'm the real Mr. Mystery-"_ He was interrupted by the real Mr. Mystery.

" _The great deals at this place are making me see double."_

" _Making me see trouple! Troup- Idiot! Idiot! D'oh, just do it again!"_ The clone yelled frustratingly before the screen turned static.

" _So get yourself down to the Mystery Shack, where the real mystery is…"_ There was a close-up to his face _"If you can make it out alive."_ He finished with a low, scary tone, followed by a dramatic music. _"Hahaha! I'm joking. Most of… Most folks made it out alive."_ Then he made a thumbs-up and pointed at his thumb with another hand.

Before the commercial would end, a large text scrolled up on screen as an announcer talked fast that Nathan and Sullivan didn't care what's saying. And before they thought it was now over, unexpectedly there was another close-up of Mr. Mystery laughing like a mad man before the screen turned static.

Nathan and Sullivan turned slowly away from the TV and stared each other with mixed reactions.

Nathan looked at the hamburger on his hands before he responded. "Please tell me this food just gave me hallucinations."

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Sullivan replied. "I mean, this was the worst commercial I've ever seen in my entire life. At least it's good as a laughing stock, I bet the scammer is regretting for showing the world how shaves his back." He chuckled as he continued to eat.

Nathan did not answer. He was now pondered about the eight ball cane he saw in the commercial. There was nothing like that he ever seen it before, but something made him wonder there's something peculiar. He took out a journal from his messenger bag and leaf through the pages to the last page which he wrote the translation from the numbers. He read the first part of the riddle attentively as many thoughts ran through his mind. It reached the moment when a bulb lit above his head.

Sullivan just saw Nathan smirking that he couldn't help but wonder why. "Did you find something interesting, kid?" He asked.

"Damn right I did." Nathan replied as he closed the journal. "There's been a change of plans. We're going to the Mystery Shack!"

**To Be Continued…**


	2. Next Stop, Mystery Shack.

**Chapter 2: Next Stop, Mystery Shack.**

 

The four-door grey sedan was driving through the large wooded area of giant pine trees, on their way to the main tourist attraction known as Mystery Shack, where it's not even far away from the town. When they already reached the small open space and found the familiar building like in the commercial, the sedan turned right and parked, before the engines was shut down.

Nathan was the first to exit the vehicle as he looked the wooden two-story cabin with no less than two entrances, one side of the sloping roof has the sign with the Mystery Shack name. There was nothing more special to detail the place since Nathan sees it's nothing but an old shack that the owner who calls himself Mr. Mystery couldn't buy a stable building, or maybe because he somehow managed to stay in business for years, but still couldn't pay for the maintenance.

"So let me recall this if I understood correctly," Sullivan spoke as he got out of the driver's seat. "You're saying that the next clue finds inside of the scammer's eight ball cane?"

"I'm very positive." Nathan answered without thinking if he was sure. "I can assure you this is what we're looking for. The answer of the riddle is the pool ball. Let me explain you only one thing, when you turn the infinite symbol vertically, it becomes the number eight. Case closed."

"Huh, that makes a lot of sense." Sullivan admitted with little surprise. "Well, I guess I can't argue you with that. So let's go inside."

Nathan nodded and he walked towards the entrance which leads to the "Gift Shop". Before Sullivan follows the boy, he heard a sound that made him stop his tracks, that did it come from above. He raised his head to the roof and noticed the giant 'S' letter was tilted, and before he knew the letter started to stumble. His eyes widened in realization that the letter is going to fall on the boy and crush him. Sullivan ran towards Nathan at arm's length, knowing he had to act quickly before it will turn out very ugly.

"Kid, look out!" He managed to catch Nathan by grabbing the back of his collar vest and pulled him back abruptly.

"Whoa!" The teenager stumbled by the grip before falling. Before he would start demanding to Sullivan about his sudden action, the giant letter just crashed to the ground as a cloud of dust blinded him and made him cough. When Nathan wiped the dust off his eyes, he saw in shock that the sign has been just a few feet away from him. "Oh God..." He murmured in shock, as he looked up to Sullivan. "Thanks, man, that was so close. If it wasn't you, I'd probably end up like a tortilla."

"I always watch your back, kid." Sullivan helped his partner to get up by taking his hand. "I swear when I'll find that old man, I'm going to give him a serious piece of warning about pressing charges." Sullivan growled, very upset that a young man almost suffered an unfortunate accident. Not only a young man, but also his partner who treats him as a best friend and had good times with.

"Hey, take it easy, you can sue the owner for another time. Let's just focus." Nathan reassured him as he continued his way to the entrance, but now cautiously if something else would fall on his head.

The treasure hunters were now facing the door, but Nathan instead of opening it, he turned to Sullivan and held up his hand to talk to him for a moment.

"One more thing I need to tell you before we enter." Nathan said in a low tone, enough so Sullivan will be the only one to listen. "When we get in and find the old man, we have to act like we are his new customers. Let's not ask him about his cane, I believe he might get suspicious about us. The least we can do is find out where he keeps it and wait for the right moment to take it."

"I like the way how you plan this. I'm in." Sullivan said with a nod of agreement.

"Good, then here we go." Nathan took a breath as he twisted the knob and opened the door.

* * *

Once they were now inside, they looked around the gift shop as they walked further to explore the area. They honestly though it doesn't seem bad at all, it has good stuff for sale; there were T-shirts, baseball caps, snow globes, license plates, and many other things that a tourist would always buy. However, what Nathan just found and couldn't help but being amazed, is that the shop has some ancient objects as decoration. Like the famous Aztec Stone Calendar on the corner, an Olmec Head on the bookshelf, even there's runic tablets on top of a table that he wished he could traduce the Nordic language. Nathan would love to take a moment of drawing them in his journal, unfortunately he knew these objects are not authentic like in the museums. So that's disappointing for him since he always wanted to draw some real artifacts from Central America.

Sullivan also found new in the shop, but most of them are strange, because he found jars filled with brains and eyeballs that he couldn't tell if they're real or not. But another thing that he finds unbelievable, not to mention outrageous, Sullivan saw that the prices are excessively high. One snow globes for two hundred dollars? That Mr. Mystery guy is really more insane to be a stingy. Maybe much worse than the millionaire old duck from a cartoon.

"What do we have here? A couple of strangers decided to pay a visit to my store." And speaking of the devil...

Nathan and Sullivan turned around and they come face to face with the owner of the Mystery Shack, also known as Mr. Mystery. He just came out of a door with a sign of "Employees only.", before he found new customers. And for the attention from the treasure hunters, he was holding the eight ball cane as usual. Mr. Mystery walked towards them with his arms extended.

"Welcome to the Mystery Shack, gentlemen! The only place where you can find the rarest, bizarre, and most of all, confusing, secrets beyond the history of the mankind!" He said with the grin of expectancy of getting the cash out of their pockets. "You came right on time to be part of a tour of my museum in five minutes. But beware, you will see many disturbing things that will leave you haunted." Mr. Mystery waved his hand in a spooky way as an attempt to scare the pants off them.

Sullivan just blinked with an eyebrow raised. "Um... Thank you, we'll take into account." He merely replied.

"Well, I'll leave you snooping around in the meantime." Mr. Mystery turned around, but before taking a step, his head turned over his shoulder. "One more thing, the price of the tour is fifteen dollars each person and we don't accept refunds." Then he walked away to attend the other customers.

"I'm starting to hate this guy." Sullivan muttered bitterly; containing the urge to have an argument with the swindler about the sign that almost got Nathan hurt, or worse.

"I know how you feel." Nathan nodded in agreement. "He thinks he can take us very easily, I wish we can show him we ain't fools, but I think it's better this way."

"You know what? I'll take this challenge, I want to see what kind of crap he has in the museum." Sullivan said with a frown.

"You're sure about this, something tells me this doesn't sound like a good idea." Nathan replied, foreseeing the possibility that Sullivan won't have a good tour after he saw the poor produced commercial.

"Fifteen bucks is not that bad. Hope I won't regret it, though. Wish me luck, kid." Sullivan answered and he went to talk Mr. Mystery so he will pay the tour. Determined to face the stupidest inventions the old man has created to make a fool of everyone who's also gonna be the part.

"Well... I guess I just stay here, and do something else." Nathan went to the magazine stand to check out if there's something interesting for his taste, preferably related to legends or history. However, what he didn't actually know is that he recently got an admirer, watching him from behind.

There was a short twelve-year old girl hiding inside of a barrel filled with keychains of questioning marks. She has round blushing cheeks, long brown hair that reaches down to her hips and her teeth has silver colored braces. She was wearing a long-sleeved red sweater with a rainbow shooting star falling down to the left, a matching red headband, purple skirt and black shoes with white socks.

The girl didn't stop staring at Nathan with the dreaming look on her face. "I think I'm in a some kind of dream. Am I?" She winced when she deliberately pinched her side. Then she blinked a few times before realizing she's not dreaming. "Nope, this is real!" She said with a smile.

"Mabel, what do you think you're doing?" A voice quickly broke her attention on Nathan as she looked down.

Beside her there was a short boy around the same age as her, and his facial features are pretty the same like her as well, meaning he must be her twin brother. He has a messy brown hair with a blue and white hat on top of his head, with a blue rim and a blue pine tree on the front. His skin was relatively pale and his nose was a bit darker than the rest of his face; also he has noticeable bags underneath of his eyes. He wears a navy blue hooded sleeveless vest, with a reddish-orange T-shirt, grey shorts, white socks with red strips and black shoes.

The girl named Mabel jumped out of the barrel and she landed in front of the boy as some of the keychains rained down to the ground.

"Dipper! You're not gonna believe this, but I have the luckiest day of my life!" Mabel gripped his vest and shook him wildly. "I'm so freaked out that I can hardly bear to scream!" She said joyfully like a typical fangirl who is in the presence of an idol.

"H-Hey would you please calm down just for a sec', you're scaring me!" Dipper pushed her away from him as he stumbled for the dizziness he got by the shaking. He shook his head to wear off his current state before he stated. "Now I want you to explain me what are you talking about."

Mabel grabbed his face by pressing his cheeks with her hands and turned his head so he can see directly to the teenager.

"When was the last time a good looking boy have come here? Just look at him, he's totally the kind of man I've always needed! If I get the chance to get his attention, and then he will start to think I'm the funniest until he will like me!" She held up her hands while trembling to contain the great amount of excitement.

The twin brother stared at Nathan for a moment, before he turned back to his sister dumbfounded. He let out a sigh as he rubbed his eyes.

Mabel gets easily fall in love with any boy and her attempts always ended up as a failure by some circumstances. For example, ever since they've come to Gravity Falls, she met a guy named Norman, they've started a good relationship, but then it turned out that "Norman" was just a group of gnomes stacked. Another case was when Mabel met an Hispanic who happens to be a merman, they also had a good time together, but they got separated when Mabel had to take him out of the pool he was trapped in to the sea so he can return to his family. The good news is she got a farewell kiss from him and they've sent messages in bottles to each other, but eventually she got devastated when she got the message that he has been arranged to marry to a manatee to stop a civil war.

Dipper has always gotten used to these kinds of situations that she has always been involved and he didn't care how many times she had a crush. However, he wanted to make an exception for only one reason. It was now the time to stop her from looking for boys once it for all.

"Mabel, I don't mean to shatter your happiness into millions of pieces, but that guy's like fifteen years old. He's too much older than you to ask him out!" Dipper tried to reason with her so she would not make the same mistake again.

Mabel crossed her arms with a smug grin. "Says the one who had a crush on Wendy." Mabel teased him with a laugh.

Dipper went taken aback as his cheeks flushed. "I-I already told you that it's over! Wendy and I have agreed to be just friends. That means I'm done trying to impress her and that stuff." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, right~" Mabel didn't take the grin off her face.

"W-What, I'm serious!" Unfortunately, his blush can't hide behind the truth of his words.

"Bro-bro, I know what you're thinking. It doesn't matter you're already over her, that won't change the fact that you still like her, am I wrong?"

Dipper opened his mouth to counter, but no words came out when he couldn't think how to respond that statement. He just looked to the ground with a shy look.

"Ha! I knew it!" Mabel exclaimed victoriously as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "But you don't have to worry, Dipper, your secret is safe with me." She cheered him up. "Well, now if you excuse me, I have a love letter to write for this handsome, so don't stop me!" She ran away to her bedroom from the second floor, leaving Dipper standing very still when his mind was completely deep in thought.

He did not expect Mabel would make a good point, even though she's considered to be sometimes a little goofy and constantly play around during some serious situations. But what really concerns him is if it's ethically wrong that he didn't give up his feelings for her, despite the agreement they made not too long ago. Before he could think what's gonna happen in the future, he just realized he was distracted to stop Mabel from getting attention from the teenager.

"H-Hey, wait Mabel!" He went through the 'Employees Only' door to follow his sister.

Meanwhile, Nathan had found a magazine that it's really worth to buy it, it has the main subject about the mystery of the Mary Celeste ship which was discovered sailing across the sea with no one on board in 1872. He was not into those kinds of mysteries which could be related to the supernatural or something like that, but he couldn't help but feel intriguing that he wants to come up a new theory to answer a strange event.

He made his way to the cash register where was near the entrance, only to stop his tracks when he switched his sight of the cover of the magazine to find a girl around the same age as he who happens to be the cashier. She was seen reading a magazine with a bored look since so far no tourist has come over to buy anything. The reason Nathan was petrified was something just hit him, while he watched her fair complexion with some freckles on her cheeks and her long copped-red hair just pass her hips. She's wearing a tan and dark brown lumberjack hat, a jade flannel shirt with a white tank top underneath and blue jeans.

The young man didn't understand what's happening to him and why he can't move a single muscle, but what he's feeling was the unusual hint of admiration that he never had before. He couldn't even try to look away from her attractive features, especially her long hair perfectly coiffed that he thought it's unique, considering most of the girls always cut their hairstyle for one reason or another. This was such an amazing spectacle that he will never simply ignore her and mind his own business.

"Kid! Are you listening?" A voice rang out to his ears.

"What-What?" Nathan just came back to his reality when he felt a hand on his shoulder and shook him. He turned his head around and turns out it was Sullivan was talking to him. Apparently he just got out of the museum recently.

"Are you okay? You've been quiet for a moment and I never seen you like that." Sullivan said with a hint of concern.

"Oh, i-it's nothing. I-I was just thinking that I wasn't paying attention." Nathan stuttered nervously, avoiding Sullivan's face as he tried to recompose himself.

Sullivan raised his eyebrow in suspicion, that answer obviously didn't convince him and that's not how Nathan would answer. He immediately looked where exactly the boy was watching and saw the redhead teenager. He blinked in surprise when he realized what exactly the kid was doing, before he flashed a grin on his face and turned to Nathan with his arms crossed.

"Were you staring at the cashier girl?" He asked with tease to pressure Nathan to tell the truth, and did it work.

"Why do you care? I just think she looks pretty, that's all." Nathan's eyes widened before he slapped his face. "Dammit! Why do I always say anything when I think out loud?" He groaned in embarrassment, feeling himself like an idiot.

"Hey kid, you don't have to be ashamed just because you like that girl. Why wouldn't you like to have a talk with her?" The old treasure hunter stated, very pleased he learned Nathan was now distracted from his focus on the quest by a charming female, though he was also a little proud the kid might have the chance to meet someone since he never had friends before.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Nathan stepped away from him as held up his hands. "Alright, first of all, I didn't say I _like_ her, okay? And second, are you crazy? I don't even know what do I have to say to her!" He began to get panic because he thought Sullivan will force him to make a contact with the lumberjack lady.

"Just try to act like a friendly person and have a normal conversation, how hard could it be?" Sullivan said in an attempt to motivate the boy so he won't remain as a social misfit.

"Easy for you to say!" Nathan countered as low as possible to not get attention from everyone around, even the cashier. "You've spent your life as a womanizer and I've never talked to a girl before! Besides, we have a job to do remember? I don't have time to chat with someone." Then he was about to walk away, but suddenly Sullivan stepped in his way making him stop.

"Nah, don't be a coward! Just do what I say and you'll be fine!" Without warning, Sullivan pushed him enough to send Nathan in front of the cash register. Nathan glared at him, thinking he was just making fun of him. Before Nathan had to get away as soon as possible, he froze when the red-haired cashier girl talked to him.

"Can I help you?" She merely asked without looking away from the magazine she's currently reading.

Nathan turned around slowly, as he strove not to stammer or else he will start being ridiculed in front of her. He wouldn't ask her if it's a good day because that's the dumbest thing to begin. He knew this wasn't the right time to feel desperate because that's not how he deals with. However, this was a new challenge for him, this was absolutely nothing like being chased by a group of men in suits with guns who had the nerve of shooting a harmless kid. Nathan mentally slapped himself so he can stay focused as he decided to respond in more subtle ways."Yeah, I'd like to buy this magazine." He said normally as he waved his magazine to her.

"That would be ten bucks." She said nonchalantly, still without moving from leaning the tipped chair with her muddy rain boots on top of the counter.

While Nathan shoved his hand into his pants' pocket to take out a couple of bills, he thought quickly on what else he could say to her. Fortunately, he just came up with a question that she might want to talk about. Judging by her boredom expression he could say she's not enjoying working here at all.

"Hey there's something I was just wondering about, all the stuff in this place are real or they're just out from a horror movie set?" He asked with the same uninterested tone, but trying to make her understand she's not the only one not impressed by the Mystery Shack's souvenirs.

"Finally! Someone who's not dumb enough to believe all the nonsense here!" Out of nowhere the redhead cashier stopped reading her magazine and exclaimed as Nathan went taken aback by her sudden reaction. Afterwards, she realized what she just said out loud in front of the customer. "Oh, sorry about that, it's just most of the people who came here were very... Well, not very smart to fall into my boss' tricks." She explained apologetically.

"Yeah, I can see that since the moment I just entered the shop." Nathan remained speechless afterwards, trying to think what else could would she like to talk about, but sadly he had no idea that could help him. In hindsight, he should have asked Sullivan how to remain a conversation a little longer before.

"By the way, is that a ring around your neck?" The red-haired teenager pointed to his silver ring with her finger. "Don't you think it would be obvious to wear on your finger? I mean, if you don't mind."

Nathan went surprised the attractive cashier had decided to make a question instead of doing her job, even about the ring he's carrying it. Nevertheless, thanks to her, he has the advantage and knew how he would answer. The next step, being humorist; he looked to both sides like making sure if no one was watching him, before he leaned forward to her. "Well, someone might get the wrong idea if they see me wearing it while I am with my partner here." He muttered as he pointed with his thumb to the middle-aged man behind him.

The cashier's eyes widened before she covered her mouth to muffle her laugh that she almost fell off the chair. "Alright, I didn't say anything." She said after she calmed down by taking a deep breath and sighed. "Hey, you mind if I can take a look?" She asked with a hint of interest.

Nathan blinked in surprise. This was the second time he was asked to give his ring to someone, besides Sullivan. But without hesitating, he nodded. "Sure, why not?" He took the lanyard out of his neck and gave the silver ring to her.

While she was looking over the engravings, she narrowed her eyes when she tried to pronounce the words but with difficulty. "Ugh, what does it say? I'm not good reading this weird language." The suppose lumberjack girl said with the lack of knowledge with the Latin.

" _Sic Parvis Magna._ In Latin means 'Greatness for Small Beginnings'." Nathan answered with his crossed arms, looking himself like he has experience of what he learned when he was a kid. Nathan would like to give her a little more information about the ring, but he assumed she's not interested in those kinds of details.

"Is that so?" She said with a raised eyebrow. "It looks old, but very nice. What kind of store did you get that thing?"

The next question made Nathan look around again before he turned back to her. "Would you believe me if I tell you I actually stole it from the National Maritime Museum?"

"Pfff, get outta here!" She scoffed, obviously finding very unbelievable what he just said. "There's no way you could do that."

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe you're right. The police would have found me right now if my I was shown on the news. Maybe a couple of cops would come here and give you a wanted picture with my face in it."

"And I would totally snitch on you so I can get my reward, I'd feel bad for you though." She replied.

"Oh yeah? If I'll try to escape, what would you do about it, huh?" Nathan asked with a challenging tone. It's not like he would want that to happen, though.

She smirked in response before she jabbed him with her finger. "I'd try to tie you down by your arms and legs like a goat in a rodeo if that's necessary."

They both shared a laugh. Nathan was honestly starting to like her and her tomboyish attitude after she gave him that kind of answer he didn't expect. And surprisingly, he felt his nervousness of talking to a woman have completely vanished suddenly, as like he's actually talking to a trustful friend, even though he recently met her. Since they were starting to get along, Nathan thought this was now the time to ask her name like civilized individual.

"So I guess we start with the introduction, shall we?" The young man said as he held up his hand for a handshake. "Name's Nathan Drake, you can call me Nathan." He said with a friendly face, just like Sullivan told him to do so.

"I'm Wendy, nice to meet you." Wendy smiled as she accepted the handshake. "So what's your business here in Gravity Falls?" She asked.

Nathan placed his arm on top of the cash register as she didn't mind of his action. "No big deal, we were just passing by, we got curious about the town and thought we could spend in here for the rest of the day. Until we heard about this shop so we decided to come over." Nathan wasn't so good lying, but luckily he came up that idea moments ago in case someone would ask him about his visit.

"How? This place isn't so popular for people to talk about it." Wendy replied.

"Actually, we saw the commercial." Nathan hesitantly corrected while rubbing the back of his head.

Wendy snorted with laughter in response. "For real? What made you think you could find anything good in here after you've watched it?"

"I don't know, I just thought I need to do something to waste my time instead of wasting my time doing nothin'." Nathan chuckled.

Meanwhile, Sullivan was standing a few meters away from Nathan so he won't interrupt their conversation, with his back on the wall next to the exit, blocking the shafts of sunlight through the window. He couldn't help but feel proud the things have turned out too well for the kid. His only intention was to help him to experience a social life, but also to make him grow up and be the real man. And he was surprised Nathan didn't do something reckless like trying to flirt her as he thought, it would be so fun to watch him doing that and see how he fails, though. But still, he was satisfied with the result and he expects more from the boy.

"Alright everyone! The store is now closed for today!" Sullivan saw Mr. Mystery proclaiming to all the tourists throughout the room. "Thank you all for coming and remember to come back with your pockets full!" The big nosed old man then went through the private door while the people from the town or from other places began to leave and others formed up a line to buy what they picked, as Nathan decided to step aside so Wendy assists the customers.

At this moment, Nathan and Sullivan thought simultaneously that it was now time to continue of carrying out their quest, as they both looked each other to confirm they're thinking the same thing by nodding their heads.

"Well, I guess this is it, it was nice talking to you." Nathan bid farewell to Wendy after she finished with her duty, a little unhappy this would be the first and last time with her because he won't be in this town for much longer. He made his way towards the exit as Sullivan opened the door.

"Hey, hang on!" Nathan stopped his tracks when Wendy called him as she stood up from her chair. "Are you goin' to leave just like that? I mean, I know you're gonna stay at Gravity Falls for just one day, but we just met and I thought maybe we could still talk by texting or something. Do you have a cell number?" She asked like being willing to know a little more about him. He proved himself to be a funny person and thanks to him she spent the last minutes entertained with the conversation before the end of her schedule.

Nathan was kinda amazed by her suggestion, but instantly changed into discouraged as he shook his head. "I don't have a cellphone, sorry." He said with regret he just brought the bad news to her.

"Oh, what a bummer." Wendy said in disappointment, but then a light bulb lit above her head. "Hey, how about I give you mine instead until you get one?" She offered him with a hopeful smile after she recently came up a new solution.

Nathan perked up after Wendy gave him an option, almost excited as well, but then he began to doubt himself that he couldn't think if it would be convenient to accept it. He turned to Sullivan to ask for an opinion, if it's fine to have her number, his partner only shrugged his shoulders, meaning the young man should be the one to make a choice. After a moment of thinking, Nathan considered it's best to not refuse the opportunity she gave it to him, and so he gladly has taken a decision.

"Sure why not?" Nathan responded with a small smile as he walked up to her.

"Cool!" Wendy grabbed a piece of a card that contains the phone number of the shop and she scribbled it with a pen. Afterwards, she handed her own phone number to Nathan. "Here, hope you won't lose it by accident." She said with satisfaction.

"Thank you, I promise I'll contact you by a pay phone." Nathan replied as he kept it in his breast pocket of his vest.

"Sounds great. Well, see you soon, Nathan." Wendy bid farewell by pointing him with her finger in the form of a gun and giving him a wink.

"Bye." Nathan waved back with a smirk before turning around and went through the exit while Sullivan kept the door open, then he closed the door after he got out.

Since then, the room was now completely empty except the red haired cashier who was almost ready to leave. Suddenly, the 'Employees Only' door flew open and Mabel came out with a jump, now holding an envelope on her hand with the love letter inside and ready to be delivered.

"I have an urgent telegram for the handsome right here!" She exclaimed like she wanted to make an announcement, but her excitement quickly vanished when after she pointed to the exact spot where saw the teenager, he was no longer anymore. "Hey, where did he go?" Mabel asked, puzzled as she looked around hoping if he went somewhere.

"Who are you looking for, Mabel?" Wendy asked as she was putting her brown jacket with faux fur hood.

"Wendy, have you seen a guy like this over height?" Mabel stood on tiptoe and raised her arm as far as she could to describe how tall he is. "Kinda big nosed, with hair a little messy and looked like a tourist but seemed more intelligent than the other people who came here?"

"Oh, I know that guy! He left the store just now. Why?" Wendy replied, though she was now wondering why her friend was looking for him.

"What?! Oh no, he won't get away from me, not on my watch!" Mabel exclaimed hastily before she ran towards the exit.

"Mabel, come back here!" Dipper went towards his sister as fast as he, making a classic chase scene of a cat and the mouse cartoon.

He was almost close from her, but seeing it was useless of just running he decided to take a leap to be able to catch her with his bare hands. He didn't make it. The moment when Mabel was outside already, she closed the door and his face slammed into it, before sliding down the surface to the ground. Wendy flinched that she went to check on Dipper.

"Dude, are you okay?" She asked, looking directly on his eyes.

Dipper cracked his eyes open and let out a tiring sigh. "I instantly regret for doing that..." He muttered in pain.

After Mabel jumped above the deck steps, she stopped her tracks before she would get away from the Mystery Shack. She was still finding for the boy, but he was gone now, not even a single trace from him. Just before the sadness began to take over her usual happy, she heard the banging sounds coming from the roof behind. She turned around and looked up and saw an Hispanic obese man on top of the signboard, hammering the giant 'S' letter back to its place after it fell down, again.

"Soos!" Mabel yelled out loud enough when the worker heard her call.

"Oh hey Mabel! What's up?" Soos said friendly to the little girl, taking a moment from repairing the sign.

"Have you seen anyone just left of the store, a teenage boy in particular?" Mabel asked, crossing her fingers.

Soos shook his head. "Sorry Mabel, I wish I could have eyes on the back of my head to tell you what I saw. Is he someone you know?" He asked.

Mabel looked at the ground in disappointment. "I wish I did." She said in depress, before she walked back to the shack and sat on the edge of the porch, resting her hands on her jaw with her elbows on the lap. She remained silent, and she didn't even know Dipper and Wendy were watching her behind the glass of the door.

They started to feel concerned about her current emotion, they always see her smile when she plays around and sometimes overreacts in some situations, which actually makes her something special. Right now, it's very unusual to see her without her true personality, only because she didn't have the chance to talk to the boy and give the letter she made only for him.

"Um... Do you think she's fine?" Dipper asked, very unsure what he should do because it was the very first time to see her sister like this. He always knew in previous cases she was disappointed after her crushes were now away from her, but seeing her sad was definitely new for him and he doesn't know what would do.

"I don't know. Why don't you just talk to her? You are her brother." Wendy suggested to him, trying to encourage him so he wouldn't just standing and doing nothing.

Dipper nodded in understanding. "I know, I hope she will listen to me this time."

"Anyways, maybe I should go by the back door and leave you guys alone. See ya tomorrow Dipper." Then she walked off with a wave.

"Goodbye, Wendy." Afterwards, he took a breath before he opened the door and got out. He sat next to her while looking at the sun setting up behind the pine trees.

"Hey." Dipper said softly.

"Hey..." Mabel merely replied, without looking at her brother and only the envelope instead.

"Are you okay?" Dipper asked to know what she has in mind. He was still unsure if he could comfort her, it would be a little easier if Grunkle Stan would take care of this if he weren't busy.

"I just can't understand, why does this always happen to me?" Mabel threw the envelope away. "Every time when I have finally someone who don't mind who I am, and before I finally get a boyfriend it slips out of my hands. It's like I have a curse or a bad luck. What did I do to deserve all of this...?" She let out a depressing sigh.

Dipper completely understood her point and he couldn't help but feel bad for her. He thought that could fully explain why Mabel was impulsive and she just wanted attention, which makes her undoubtedly selfish but now for her own reason.

"Look, I know how much you want this, but I think it's time you have to stop hitting on the boys. You can't force them to like you and be your soulmate." Dipper said, now relieved that he finally gave her a serious piece of advise what she should've needed it.

"I can't do that! Every time when I see a good-looking guy, I get outta control!" She complained hopelessly like she's suffering a disease.

Dipper dared to pat her lap with his hand to reassure her. "Hey, just calm down. Yeah, that might sound hard to you, but at least you should try. I mean, you have friends who I'm sure they'll try to help you out, even me." He answered with a sincere smile.

Mabel turned to him with her eyes widened. "You?" She asked in surprise, definitely not expected that answer coming from Dipper.

"Yeah. Brothers are supposed to help each other, and... Well, what kind of brother would leave his sister outside while it's getting dark without even talk to her?" He asked after he learned the sky was now turning dark blue, as he can barely see the small white dots called stars.

"Would that qualify to earn an award for the Worst Brother?" She asked, feeling the mood coming back.

Dipper nodded with a nervous smiled. "That's kinda excessive, but that would be pretty much. Good thing that wouldn't be me." He let out a chuckle as her sister joined him with a giggle.

"Maybe you're right after all, I think I've had enough having more heartbreaks and this is getting bad for my health. Thank you, Dipper. You just saved me going to the Sweater town again, this time for the rest of my life." Mabel replied now with a cheerful tone.

Dipper smiled to see the happiest sister he always knew. Then, he stood up. "Well, we're better go inside, wanna grab some cookies in the kitchen which our parents forbid us to eat?" He asked since he crave something sweet.

That made Mabel rise up with a jump. "Yeah! Let's race, the last to arrive won't get the last cookie!" Laughing, she dashed in as fast as she could.

"Not today!" Dipper decided to join the fun as he got in the shack before closing the door.

Meanwhile, Soos have finished of repairing the broken letter after doing one last hit with the hammer. "Whew, there, good as new. Now I can go home without worrying an unforeseen event that could probably happen without even know it." He said optimistically as he stepped off the roof by the stairs.

Suddenly, a head just poked out of the side of the sign as the pair of grey eyes watched him walking away from the shack. A foot stepped sideways and fully reveals it was Nathan, meaning he was on the roof hiding and waited until the repair man left. After he got out of the shop he climbed up the roof to spy inside the building while Sullivan took the car to the exit of the forest where it's not far away from here.

Now he was safe to continue his job to find out where the owner keeps the eight ball cane. So Nathan carefully slid down the roof as he landed on a wooden platform, which has a resting chair with a parasol beside it, there was a cooler and a bucket full of pine cones for some reason. Nathan thought this could be a resting place exclusively for the old man. He jumped down to the back of the shack and he found a square window just to his left. He decided to take a look, hoping it won't be the bathroom he would find.

He took a peek and thankfully it wasn't what he thought, it appears to be an office when he saw the back of Mr. Mystery, sitting on a leather wheeled chair. Nathan wondered what he was doing right now, but while he was listening counting individually numbers, he thought the swindler was gathering the money. In fact, he could also hear the stinging laughter coming from the old man.

"Oh yeah... Keep goin', keep counting the money you _fairly_ earned it." Nathan whispered with a hint of disdain.

"Huh?" The scammer turned around to the window, but he found nothing. "Weird, I thought I heard someone is talking so bad about me. Ugh, pull yourself together Stan, you're getting crazy for your age." He said to himself as he continued with his own business.

Nathan was crouching with his back against the wall, after he realized he almost screwed up and it was the best to keep the mouth shut. He stood slowly to face the glass again, this time to look around. As he surveyed the office, what he found so far was an old and busted copy machine with some spiderwebs and flies buzzing around. Also, what he brought attention was a big safe box at the right side of the room. For a moment he thought the cane might be inside, but that can't be possible, not to mention that sounds silly. And at this moment, his eyes have caught a black ball pool with the number 8 next to a desk Mr Mystery - or his real name is Stan - was occupying.

Nathan flashed a grin, not only he found the object with the clue inside, also because it's practically exposed and it'll be so easy to get it like taking a candy away from a baby. He pictured the old man will not store the staff in a safe place, probably he doesn't seem to know the truth about it. He wouldn't be carrying it openly beforehand.

Thinking he had enough, Nathan decided to return where Sullivan is waiting for him. But suddenly he stopped abruptly when a dull brown goat, with a left horn missing, stood in front of him. It stayed still without taking its eyes off him, like somehow gained its attention.

"Um... Do you need something?" Nathan asked, confused but also gently.

The goat walked towards him in response.

"Whoa, wait. What are you doing?" Nathan stepped back while trying to not make a sound.

The goat began to sniff on his pants, actually to one of his pockets before it tried to shove its mouth inside.

"Get off me!" Nathan hissed as he tried to push the goat away, but it kept invading his personal space while biting like there was something edible he's keeping.

Instead of giving the goat what really wants, he raised his hand before slapping in its face, which made it to freeze, as Nathan was now a couple of feet away from him; but then he realized he shouldn't have done that before he saw the goat showed its narrowed eyes and gritted the teeth.

"Oh no..." Nathan muttered, definitely regretting by his risky action that means bad news for him.

The goat prepared the charge by pawing the ground as the smoke blew out of its nose like a bull in a really bad mood, ready to perform a retaliation towards the boy.

"H-Hey, take it easy now." Nathan laughed nervously with his hands up and started to retreat with slow steps, with the attempt to escape; but it was too late when the goat leaped with a bleat and leaned down its head, aiming the horns directly to his torso.

"Oh crap..."

Nathan was thrown back off his feet after the goat rammed him with the right horn, before he crashed into a couple of trash cans they were near between the back entrance and the window.

Stan got startled by throwing the money, after hearing the sound of the metal hitting against each other followed by multiple thuds coming from outside. The old man stood up from his chair hastily before he opened the windows with one push. Only to find the trash cans knocked down with the garbage scattered around, but he just caught the responsible for the mess. He glared at the goat eating a chocolate bar on the ground, and no one else was around here.

"Why you stupid animal with weirdo eyes!" Stan yelled, holding his fist up. The goat went alarmed and clamping the chocolate between its teeth it before leaving to the depths of the forest. "Yeah, you better run away before I'll try to dissect you and turn you into a freak for my museum!" He sighed irritably before he got back inside and closed the windows.

Suddenly, Nathan scrambled out of the trash after he deliberately hid inside in order to avoid getting caught and personally take the blame on the goat, so now he felt satisfied. However, he knew it was his fault for not eating that snack he bought at the store from a gas station during their way to Gravity Falls to begin with. So from now on, he swore to not keep food in his pockets anymore if he bumps into another animal.

"Oh thank God, that was close." Nathan said with a relief sigh as he stood up and dusted the garbage off his clothes, but unfortunately his shirt and pants have stained and perceived the stench from himself. He groaned. "Great... Better get outta here before someone will find me by the smell." He immediately made his way through the woods back where Sullivan is waiting for him.

* * *

Sullivan was waiting patiently for Nathan while he was leaning against the driver seat with his arms behind the head. His car was parked right next to the entrance of the woods by the road that leads to Mystery Shack. The waiting was very boring to him that he would close his eyes and take a nap, but before he could do that he heard someone tapping the window from the passenger seat. He turned and saw Nathan waving before opening the door and got in.

Sullivan recently noticed Nathan's shirt was dirty and his hair was a little messed up.

"Jesus Christ, what happened to you?" He asked, but then he winced when he sniffed the unpleasant scent from the boy. "Ugh, and why do you smell like hell?" He grunted.

"I was in the trash like a cat. Just don't ask, be thankful it wasn't a skunk." Nathan replied as he slumped against his seat with a sigh.

"So.. did you find it?" Sullivan casually asked, still pressing his nose with his fingers.

Nathan nodded with his head, ignoring his partner's gesture. "Just as I thought, he keeps it in his own office room. But the bad news is that the window is locked by inside, so the only option I have left is using the main door, I'll go stealthy to the office and take the cane. After that, we'll get out of this town with the piece of the puzzle in our hands."

"Sounds a good plan. And when are you gonna start?" Sullivan inquired curiously.

"By midnight, when everyone is sleeping obviously. We should make a move now, that way we avoid getting into trouble. I don't know if they will see us as primary suspects, but right now they saw us as simple and innocent tourists, so I don't believe they could jump that conclusion."

"Alright, good thinking." Sullivan checked on his watch. "We still got plenty of time to do something, so first I'll take you somewhere you can get a bath and wash your clothes. The smell is starting to kill me, and I don't want to pass out while I'm driving." He turned on the vehicle, turning the headlights on, before heading off to a place where could have a shower room and a washing machine.

Nathan stayed quiet when he was deep in thought about what kind of clue lies within the eight ball that could help to continue their search, but another thing he just realized as he shove his hand into his breast pocket and took out the card with Wendy's number. The moment she gave it to him, he was excitedly anticipating to talk with her again, but his expectation now turned into doubtfulness. He couldn't help but ponder if it is fine for her if he would tell her frankly about himself. He was treated badly by many people who looked him as a spoiled brat who cause nothing but trouble because he used to be a thief and ran away from the orphanage. Since Sullivan decided to take care of him, he was the only person Nathan could trust because he didn't despise the young man even though Nathan stole his wallet.

That doesn't mean Wendy is an exception, he admits he had a good conversation with her, but what really concerns is what she will think about him if she learns the boss' eight ball cane was stolen in the same place she's working and in one day after she and Nathan introduced each other. It's possible she will get the theories which involves him until she might find the coincidence. It's a good thing he doesn't have the cell phone to expect a call from her and probably make questions, but the question which made him uneasy was if can she accept what he really is, or she will keep her word of calling the cops on him.

His mind was urging to tear the paper with her cell number. He tried to do this to keep his true identity safe. But he couldn't do it, he put it into the same pocket instead.

**To Be Continued...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I waited for so long to make a conversation scene between Nathan and Wendy because I see they have in common, they will meet again by the way.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you could send me a review because I really want to know how I'm doing, just one review, PLEASE.


	3. Inside The Infinite.

**Chapter 3: Inside The Infinite.**

 

It was now midnight, and as Nathan predicted, there was no single light inside of The Mystery Shack. Only the forest was filled with the sound of hundreds of crickets and a howl from a wolf far away. It was now the time to take action.

Sullivan's car was parked in front of the old shack like yesterday, only he drove silently with the lights off at the moment when they reached this place. However, Nathan was still in the car, now with his clothes cleaned after Sullivan took them in a laundry while he was taking a bath in a hotel.

He was staring into the souvenir store in ponder, taking a little time to prepare himself before going in.

"Are you sure you want to do this, kid?" Sullivan asked, just to be sure if Nathan doesn't need a hand or has changed his mind about the plan.

"I broke into a museum before, remember? This is nothing compared to what I've done." Nathan replied with no concern. Despite he knew the risk, he relied on his experience. "Though I have to be careful not to make a sound, I'm sure the old man is not alone. Besides, I need you to wait here and prepare for our escape in case something goes wrong."

Sullivan just nodded in understanding. But still he had doubts because Nathan seemed a little tired at this time to do it by his own.

Nathan took a deep breath. "Well, wish me luck."

Nathan placed his hand on the handle, but he was stopped from opening the door when Sullivan put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, before you go, I think you need this." He said as he took out something from the backseat. The old man handed to Nathan, what appears to be a black ski cap.

"What is this?" Nathan asked, hesitantly taking the cap and look closely at it. He saw it has two holes, but doesn't seem it was torn.

"Don't you get it? You need this so no one inside will see your face. I made the holes so you can see, though I'm not sure if I did it right." Sullivan replied.

"Wait, why do I have to put this on like I'll be the burglar?" Nathan said, pretty annoyed but mostly confused.

Sullivan snorted in response. "Doesn't sound obvious to you?" He replied to the former younger thief, "Break into a house and steal an object from another person is not too far from break into a museum! And there's no need to remember what happens if you get busted."

"Now just hold up, old man. Just because I'll "steal" the eight-ball cane doesn't mean I'm going to sell it afterwards. We need to gather the next clue for our search, by any means necessary. You're with me in this or not?.

"I know, but it doesn't matter what your purpose is. They will think of you as a burglar when you take that thing anyway." Sullivan replied. "Just give it a try."

Nathan let out a sigh. "Fine." He slid the ski mask over his head. Suddenly, he winced before he scratched all over his face. "Ow! Ow! It's itchy! It's so damn itchy!" He removed the mask hastily, as his hair remained disheveled. "Jesus, what is this made, eyelashes?! There's no way I wear this thing!"

"Oh, come on. Are you gonna act like a spoiled kid?" Sullivan rubbed his eyes. "You need to understand how much trouble you will get if you get busted."

"Oh, I'm not finished yet." Nathan retorted. "You cut the holes wrong that I could barely see. I don't wanna risk hitting myself against a wall. I appreciate your help, but I do this in my way. Therefore, no mask."

Sullivan sighed in defeat. "Suit yourself, but you better hope I won't say 'I told you' if you get caught. I can't wait when that happens."

Nathan just ignored his foreshadowing and stepped out of the car. He surrounded the shack, hoping he won't find the same goat that could ruin his stealth, until he found the back door as he thought there would be.

When he was now standing in front of the door, he turned the door handle. As he expected, it was closed, but luckily he was prepared for this. He took shoved his hand into his pocket and took out a pair of lock pick tools. He knelt and began to pick the lock. It took only a matter of seconds before he heard a click, then he twisted the keyhole. Another click let him know the door was now unlocked, as he opened it slowly. The young man grinned to himself; he didn't even try too hard to do that, maybe he should thank Sullivan for teaching him.

After that, Nathan began to trespass the private residence subtly, to make sure his steps won't make the wooden floor creak loudly or unexpectedly breaking one of the planks. Fortunately, his vision was already used to see the darkness, not clearly but enough to assume he's in a living room; he only managed to see an armchair, facing in front of a small TV. But suddenly, he brought his attention on furniture with an illuminated fish tank, and there was an Axolotl, lying on top of a rock.

He knew he should focus, but he couldn't help but feel amazed to see an extraordinary creature, which sadly is in danger of extinction. Maybe coming and take a look at the Mexican salamander wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Hello there, little guy." Nathan whispered friendly to the pet as he tapped the glass. The Axolotl didn't startle, but stared blankly at the unknown visitor. "Don't be alarmed, I'm just passing here, looking for the office to… "borrow" something. Don't worry, that's the only thing I'm going after and nothing more." After a moment of silence, he continued. "Hey, just want to say, I'm glad you have someone who's looking out for you, even if your owner is that old stingy crook. Well, I'll leave you alone, see ya." He gave the Axolotl a two-finger salute and walked off.

He was looking around the dark room in order to find a certain door which leads to the office. His eyes spotted one, next to a staircase leading to the upper floor. Nathan immediately thought this must be the right door.

When he stepped closer to it, he glanced upstairs just for caution, before he turned the knob. It wasn't locked, not much to his surprise, though. Nathan opened the door and what his eyes just spotted, thanks by the moonlight shining through the window, was the familiar wooden desk and the red leather chair.

Without waiting for a second, Nathan came into the office and closed the door gently.

* * *

He was searching through the trunk filled with the owner's belonging, convinced that the cane could it be there, but so far he didn't find it.

"Ugh, if I am the big nosed old man, where would I keep it?" Nathan muttered, trying to portray himself as the owner of the Mystery Shack.

Suddenly, as he didn't stop rummaging the worthless and unimportant objects, he began to feel very tired since he stayed up all night. He couldn't avoid of letting out a yawn, as he felt his eyes getting heavier to keep them opened. But then, he realized he's about to fall asleep before he slapped himself twice to stay awake. While he was staying focused, he swore to himself by the end of this, he will stay on the bed all the day.

After he knew the eight-ball cane wasn't in the trunk, he closed it as he proceeded to survey the office further. He checked under the desk, but there was nothing. He scratched his head in confusion. He could've sworn the cane was near the table, but there's a possibility that the owner of the Mystery Shack have has placed it somewhere else where he can't see through the darkness like an owl. But luckily, he brought something for this case.

He shoved his hand into his pocket and took out a flashlight before turning it on. He began to look around once more, with the help of a light beam, finding more details he didn't notice before. For example, when he turned around, he almost got startled when the light revealed a wall mounted plaque with the head of a jackrabbit with antelope horns. He heard about one of those mythical animals, but he doesn't care whether this Jackalope is real or not at this moment.

Then, he traced the flashlight over the ground, and suddenly he found something odd on the floor. There were dirty footprints, but they're not from a person, but from an animal. He kneeled to have a closer look to determine what animal is. The footprints were kidney shaped, which made Nathan deduce they're from a pig, a sheep, or even a goat, but he's not quite sure about it.

Nevertheless, he came to realize it is very likely that, whatever animal it was, took the staff out of the office, and those marks will help him to find out where it might be. So he decided to follow them with his flashlight on, hoping he won't find that goat from earlier.

After he left the office, the kidney shaped footprints led him through the living room until the trail brought him back to the back door. Then, he noticed the tracks ended up turning to the right, into a small archway. He turned the flashlight to see what's on the other side, and saw there was a kitchen room.

As he was approaching to the kitchen, while tracing the light beam across the wooden floor, only to find more footprints, but this time scattered everywhere. Surely something scared the animal to make that mess. But then, he eventually discovered a shaft with an eight-ball lying in there.

"Ha, there you are!" Nathan said with a grin and he went to pick up the cane. But as his hand touched the shaft, he winced when he felt the unpleasant feeling of a thick liquid. "Aw, gross. It's all covered in spit!" He hissed as he shook and wiped his hand with his shirt.

Nonetheless, he decided not to waste his time to look for a paper towel to clean the cane.

"Alright, now time to get outta here and-" Before finishing his sentence, the lights of the kitchen suddenly turned on, making his pupils dilating that he saw nothing but blinding white flash and forced him to shut his eyes close.

He turned around and when the effect of blindness just ended, he blinked a few times before he saw clearly who turned on the lights, but also froze for the fact that he's now caught.

There was a Hispanic obese man standing at the archway, with light peach fair skin and buck teeth that looks exactly from a beaver. Wearing a light brown cap, a jade greenish gray shirt with a big dark green, poorly painted question mark and beige shorts. He had a surprise look on his face after finding an unexpected and uninvited guest.

Nathan suddenly remembered that's the guy who's been repairing the signboard while he was hiding behind it.

"Oh, hey there, fella! Sorry I startled you, but you just gave me a fright when I heard some footsteps. I didn't expect to see a stranger would be inside of the shack, especially at this hour." Soos said. "So, you must be the one who unlocked the backdoor, right?"

Nathan's eyes widened after realizing he left the back door open. He mentally hit his forehead, feeling like a fool because if he had closed it, he would've heard someone opening the door already and giving some time to hide. However, he never thought he would be lucky one of the Mystery's shack employees could be clueless to see the boy as an intruder.

"What are you doing here?" Soos asked when his expression now turned into suspicious.

"Um..." Nathan gulped as he hid the eight-ball cane behind his back. He kept his eye contact on Soos because he knew that if he would dart his eyes away, he would expose himself he will try to lie. "What are _you_ doing here?" He knew that was a stupid question, but after the fat man showed himself, he wondered what purpose he has to be here.

Soos laughed at the question. "Oh, I always get hungry at midnight, so on Tuesdays I come here all the way to this kitchen for a snack. My tummy needs to be full or I can't get some sleep." He patted to his fat belly.

"Wait, you're breaking into a house just to get someone's food? Don't you have your own refrigerator in your house?" Nathan inquired with interrogation in his eyes.

"Of course I have one. But the thing is that my boss is keeping some delicious cupcakes on his fridge. The moment I looked upon them, I could hear their voices, begging me to eat them and taste their irresistible flavor!" His mouth began to drool, but he snapped out, as he wiped the drool of his mouth and continued. "I know what I'm about to do is very wrong, but I promised I will buy him another package as an apology for eating his own."

"I see… Well… That's very nice of you, I guess." Nathan thought it would be the best way to make the chubby man forget the question he made. "Well, I'd love to stay here and chat with you, but I better leave and go back to my house and sleep. It was nice meeting you though. Would you be kind to step aside and let me pass?" He asked, trying to act politely, but a drop of sweat rolling down his temple couldn't hide his nervousness.

"Of course, but first, if you don't mind if I ask you, what you're holding behind you?" Soos

Nathan's heart began to drum intensely, as he tried to come up a credible excuse and fast. "Uh… Actually, I have nothing. I just like the way I walk around with my hands behind my back. Makes me feel like I deserve some respect, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Soos laughed. "I understand, bro. Alright, you can go." He sidestepped to let him go.

Nathan sighed in relief discretely. "Thanks man, I-" But when he made one step forward, there was a loud creak, before a wooden plank on the floor suddenly breaks and his foot got stuck in the hole. He lost his balance before falling to the ground and accidentally dropping the eight-ball cane in front of Soos.

Soos looked at the cane with a puzzled look, but then he recognized the cane's design with a gasp. "Is that Mr. Pines' cane?" He turned to the teenager with a shock look. "Are you a canes thief?"

"Hehe… Look, this isn't what it looks like. I-I can explain…" Nathan stuttered as he removed his foot from the hole with a stumble.

"Oh, man. I can't believe this is really happening! I've never been in this kind of a situation before! What Mr. Pines told me what should I do when I see someone's grabbin' his stuff?" Soos started gabbling in panic.

"Hey, calm down, buddy! If you just listen to me and I-"

"Hush! I'm focusing!" Soos held up his hand to Nathan as his expression remained thoughtful.

Nathan just blinked in disbelief Soos was trying to remember the miser man's words, instead of doing something that any person would do if finds a burglar. But then he realized he's now distracted and it's the perfect chance to escape and fast. But since Soos was now blocking his way out of the kitchen, he hastily looked around for another exit. Then, he noticed a wide window on his side.

Nathan picked up the cane and walked backwards away from Soos at a slow pace, approaching towards the window. When he was now nearby, he touched the glass with his hand to find a way how to open it, but then he suddenly noticed the window doesn't have a handle, nor the rails. He cursed, but he knew the only option he had left was breaking the window. He looked at the eight-ball cane, but he began to hesitate.

Aware that it wasn't the time to think, he gripped the shaft with his two hands and prepared to make a desperate attempt.

"That's it! Now I remember!" Soos exclaimed, making Nathan froze before he was about to swing the cane. "He told me I should beat em' up to the pulp, that includes you!" Out of nowhere, he grabbed a wooden baseball bat. "I'm sorry I had to do this, fella. But I promise I will go easy on you."

"H-Hey, hang on a sec'! You don't have to do this! W-We can work this out without violence!" Nathan begged, waving his hands to ask for mercy.

"Oh, believe me, I'd like to talk with you. But it's my duty to protect Mr. Pines' belongings, even if I have to take extreme measures." Soos replied as he bounced the baseball bat in his open hand.

Nathan began to step backwards, but then he felt his back pressing against the wall, and while Soos was coming closer to him, Nathan has no chance to get pass through the chubby man.

Normally, he would just accept his surrender and give himself to the police. But Nathan never forgets that he's a Drake, and a real Drake should not give up that easily. As he tried to clear up his mind and began to survey the kitchen to find a way to catch Soos by surprise, until his attention was brought by a glass light over the table. But he also noticed the lamp has a running wire connected with it, before he started to follow its connection all across the ceiling, going down to the wall, until he found on his side a light switch.

He turned back to Soos, before turning back to the light switch. And then, without hesitating, his arm could reach the switch before turning off the lights.

"What's going on?! Everything went black! I think I'm blind!" Soos' voice rang out in the darkened room, unable to see Nathan making a run.

"Get outta my way!" The young man yelled.

Unfortunately, since Nathan was also blind, he ended up bumping into Soos

"Hey, get off me, fatty!" Nathan growled.

The series of grunts and the sounds of bangs and crashes was enough to wake all the residents in the shack.

* * *

"What was that?!" Stan jumped up in his bed after hearing some noises coming downstairs.

He didn't have time to wonder what's going on before he threw the blankets off and swung his hairy legs with his feet touching the floor. After turning on a lamp next to him, Stan went over his closet and took out a double-barreled shotgun. After that, he burst out of his room and ran across the hallway, heading to the stairs. But then he stopped when a door on the left suddenly opened and the twin boy bolted out of the room in front of Stan.

"Grunkle Stan, what's happening down there?!" Dipper asked, now a little frightened after he woke up by the commotion, but then he gasped when he saw a shotgun in his great uncle's hands.

"Stay inside your room kids, I'll take it from here!" The old man ordered, before shoving gently his great nephew aside and continued to run and went downstairs.

Dipper was unsure about Grunkle Stan's suggestion, but when he saw Mabel also getting out of the bed and asked him what's happening, he noticed she was getting scared. He decided to stay and calm her down, while hoping the old man won't get hurt.

* * *

Nathan finally got out of the kitchen, with the cane still in his possession, after a short brawl with the fat man. He made a run to the main entrance, instead of using the back door to get the shortest way to meet with Sullivan quickly. But suddenly, a shadowy figure popped up from the stairs, blocking Nathan's path before he would have the chance to cross the entryway.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" The shadow called out, waving something around.

Nathan suddenly realized the ruckus he caused have woke the scammer old man and had the assumption than he was carrying a weapon, ready to shoot something on sight.

"Aw, crap!" Nathan decided to turn around and run in the opposite direction towards the back door.

Stan turned on the lights of the living room after he heard Nathan's voice, before he saw the boy trying to run away.

"Hey, where do you think you're going, you little brat! Come back here!" He started to pursue the young burglar.

Nathan was almost near the back door, but before he was about to prepare to knock down the door, Soos just run out from the kitchen and tackled the young man by surprise. The eight ball cane slipped out of Nathan's hand and bounced it away from him.

"I got 'im, Mr. Pines! He's not going anywhere!" Soos exclaimed, holding Nathan on the ground with a headlock. Nathan struggled to get free, but Soos' excessive weight left him unable to move.

"Soos?! What the heck are you doing here?" Stan yelled in surprise. But he held up his hand with a shake on his head. "You know what? Forget what I asked, for now! Just don't let that little punk go while I'll call the police."

"No, you won't." Another unknown voice came from behind.

"What the-" Stan turned around as he raised his shotgun, but suddenly he was slapped by a leather blackjack and fell on his face on the floor.

Sullivan knew something went very wrong when the noises from inside drew his full attention, he thought Nathan was now in trouble since he didn't show up very soon, so he decided to get out of his car and went inside the shack to help the kid.

"Mr. Pines!" Soos shouted worriedly, watching his respectable boss unconscious.

Nathan noticed that Soos have stopped pressing his neck, before the treasure hunter took the chance to hang down his head and then hit him in the face with the back of his head. The blow made Soos let the young man go and rolled around the ground, clutching his aching nose with a whimper.

Nathan crawled towards the cane before grabbing it and got to his feet; he run up to Sullivan, jumping over Stan's body to avoid tripping.

"Let's get the hell outta here!" Nathan said, passing through his partner and turned right around the entryway.

Sullivan merely nodded and followed him. However, they didn't know Stan was regaining his consciousness.

Nathan dashed across the gift shop and then he busted the main door open by ramming it. He stumbled and fell down from the porch, while Sullivan was next to get out of the shack.

"Are you okay, kid?" Sullivan asked as he approached him, but the young man waved his hand.

"I'm fine! Just get in the car! Quickly!" Nathan yelled as he stood up.

Sullivan didn't hesitate as he hastily hopped into the driver's seat and turned his key in car ignition. Nathan sat in the passenger seat already, with the cane on his lap, gasping for air and his heart was beating faster. But as he thought it was now the time to leave, something went wrong when Sullivan was having trouble starting the car.

"Aw, come on! You gotta be kidding!" Sullivan shouted as he turned the key once again.

"What? What is it?!" Nathan asked with a hint of panic.

"I don't know! I think something's wrong with the engine!" Sullivan replied, turning the key thrice, with no success.

"Well, we can't stay here! Just keep going!" Nathan desperately pressured

"Shut up! I'm on it!" Sullivan shouted back. But before he continued to try to start the car, he froze with his eyes staring through the windshield.

"Now what?!" Nathan turned to see what Sullivan was watching, and went into shock before realizing that it was now too late to escape.

The lights in the gift shop were on, and Stan was standing at the doorstep with anger and resentment visibly written on his face, aiming his shotgun towards the burglars inside the car. Soos was standing behind his boss, but unlike Mr. Pines, he was awfully nervous just to see Stan on the verge to pull the trigger. He understood those guys just committed physical assault, but that doesn't mean they deserve getting shot, especially the younger one.

"Don't move a muscle." Mr. Pines growled, walking up to the treasure hunters without lowering his gun. He stood in front of the driver's door, before opening it. "Hands off the wheel!" He ordered to the man with the mustache.

"Shit…" Sullivan grumbled and raised his hands.

"Now you two step outta the vehicle!" Stan motioned them with the shotgun as he took a step back.

Sullivan slowly got out of his car, a little tensed just by looking into the barrel of the shotgun in his face. Nathan was about to do the same, but Stan stopped him briefly.

"Wait up, kid." He said, giving the boy a glare. "I think you got something which belongs to me. How about you give it back to me?"

Nathan sighed in defeat and took out the eight ball cane with him. He walked up to the big nosed old man and handed it to him.

At that moment, Stan narrowed his eyes when he felt he saw their faces before. He may forget some people he met, but this time it was like just moments ago.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Aren't you the same new customers who visited my shop not too long ago?" Stan said, but without a hint of surprise.

"You see what happened? I told you should have worn that goddamn mask I gave you." Sullivan grumbled.

"Jokes on you, old man! And shut up!" Nathan hissed.

"How about both of you shut your yappers?" Mr. Pines interjected, making them keep their mouths closed. "That's more like it. Now why don't you go back into my shack? We're gonna have some serious conversation between us. Move!"

Nathan and Sullivan began to walk back into the Mystery Shack like a pair of delinquents being escorted to the prisoner transport vehicle. Soos stepped aside to let them pass, but then he became motionless when Stan looked at him with a frown look.

"A-Am I in trouble, Mr. Pines?" Soos asked apprehensively. He got the feeling that he might get fired for sneaking into the shack without permission.

"You owe me a big explanation," Stan responded after a brief moment of silence. "But I'm gonna let this slide until I finish dealing with these punks."

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Soos offered to compensate.

"I can do it myself. Just go home, but don't even think about missing your day on the job. Is that clear?" He warned as any boss would say to an employee.

"Yes, sir!" Soos replied with a salute. "See you in the morning, Mr. Pines. And… Please be careful." Then, the repairman left the shack.

Stan closed the main door and continued to bring Nathan and Sullivan to the living room.

* * *

Dipper and Mabel have gotten out of their bedroom after they've noticed everything was now quiet, but they were afraid if something wrong happened to Grunkle Stan since he hasn't returned to let them know that everything is fine. The twins crept downstairs, approaching to the entrance towards the living room when the lights from the other side caught their attention.

They took a peek and almost gasped when they saw two strangers, sitting in their chairs from the dining room with Grunkle Stan, sat on his own armchair, but he didn't look relaxed at all. However, they knew who those strangers are; they were the new visitors, who came to the gift shop in the afternoon.

Dipper realized he should've known they didn't look like they would buy something unfairly expensive, and there must be a good reason why they returned at midnight. He couldn't help but feel nervous if they know something about Gravity Falls that no one else knows.

When he was about to ask to Mabel an opinion, he went speechless when he saw his sister was not only shocked, but also overexcited when her eyes were focused on Nathan. He knew this was a bad sign, and he thought after talking to her, her tendency of finding a boyfriend was finally over.

"Oh my gosh! He's back! He's really back! Maybe now I have the chance to talk to him and get to know each other before I-" Mabel began to do the usual thing, planning how to get Nathan to like her.

"Mabel, snap out of it!" Dipper intervened before she would do something stupid. "Haven't you realized they're the ones who just broke into our house and Grunkle Stan just caught them? I wonder why he's not calling the cops right now?" He wondered as he kept staring intently at the strangers.

"But I don't see they could be robbers. Maybe he was looking for me with some help and he's trying to convince Grunkle Stan so he can see me!" Mabel became even more deluded.

"Well, you're half-right." Dipper replied with his rolled eyes. "But I don't think that guy came here for you. Just be quiet and let's hear."

"Alright you two, I can see you aren't here asking me to give back your money, even though I said 'no refunds'." He glared at Sullivan. He knew that man didn't enjoy the trip in his museum.

"Actually, I'll be totally satisfied when I get my money back after breaking your big weird nose you have with my own bare hand." Sullivan retorted with a smug.

Stan's eye twitched, before he stood up from his chair without warning and approached Sullivan.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I just hurt your feelings?" Sullivan asked teasingly.

Nathan's eyes widened when realized something awful is going to happen. "Dude, shut the hell up!" He warned.

Before Sullivan was going to say something, Stan suddenly hit him with the butt plate of his shotgun.

Dipper and Mabel gasped in shock when their great uncle made such an aggressive action. It's not the first time he would do that since he saved them when Dipper accidentally raised the undead, but doing to a human being was a whole new experience that they're afraid to see blood getting spilled.

Mabel started to get extremely worried, thinking Grunkle Stan might do the same to Nathan. She wanted to do something to stop him, but she was scared to intervene when she got the feeling that he will get mad if he finds out she's been eavesdropping along with Dipper.

He clutched his nose when the blow almost broke it. "You son of a…!" He was about to lunge at Stan, but he stopped when the old man raised his gun at him.

"I'd like to see you try, joker." Stan said belligerently.

"Guys, please! Can't you just calm down and we can talk about this?!" Nathan stood up, trying to avoid the confrontation before something gets any worse.

"Who told you to get up from your chair, punk?!" Stan pointed the shotgun at the teenager, making him step back with his hands held up in fear.

"Don't you dare hurt him, you bastard!" Sullivan growled. First a giant letter of the sign almost crushed Nathan, and now he's threatened of being shot.

"Then you better answer me what are you doing in my house or else I will make you sing before dawn!" Stan's finger began to press on the trigger.

Mabel couldn't take anymore to keep watching; she had her eyes close, but she didn't hold back the tears that filled in her eyes, as she was choking on sobs. She understood he's only doing in self-defense, but she couldn't stand hearing the way her uncle was yelling and treating them in a very hostile manner, like he doesn't actually care if they would explain what is their business here. However, the moment when Stan is now on the verge of shooting the gun, she decided to put an end to this. Not just for her future soul mate, but for her uncle's welfare.

"Stop!" Mabel ran toward Grunkle Stan.

"Mabel!" Dipper yelled, but he failed to stop her when she was now away from his reach. But that didn't stop him to catch up with her in a hurry.

Stan snapped out, and stopped pressing his finger against the trigger. And before he realized, he felt something wrapped around his leg with a thrust, making him stumble. He looked down and saw it was Mabel hugging him.

"Stop it, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel cried. "I have never seen you acting like that and I don't think I like it! Please… Just stop…" She began to cry more.

Nathan and Sullivan went taken aback a little girl just showed up, followed by a little boy, who appears to be her brother. They never imagined the old man has a couple of kids living with him. But suddenly, they come with the idea that they can use the chance to counterattack when Stan just lowered the gun.

However, they couldn't. While they were watching the little girl crying, they thought it wouldn't be a good idea to do that while she's still here. In fact, they felt a little guilty for making a scene in front of her, since they're the ones who started the ruckus.

"What on earth are you doing, kids! Didn't I tell you to stay in your room?" As it was expected, Stan scolded them when he realized they've been watching the entire interrogation.

Dipper took a look at his sister. She was still shedding tears to answer Grunkle Stan. He started to feel sorry to blame her. Instead, he decided to respond for her.

"We're sorry, Grunkle Stan. But Mabel is now scared because of you!" His tone surprised everyone, even Mabel stopped crying. "I-I understand you're trying to teach those guys a lesson." He pointed to Nathan and Sullivan. "B-but what you're doing is wrong! I mean, it's like you already forgot we are here. Look, I'm just sayin' you should take it easy and think about what would happen if me and Mabel see you doing something… Ugly!"

Dipper began to wheeze after his outburst. He wasn't very sure if it was the right choice to stand up.

"You know, I gotta agree with the kiddie here. You wouldn't dare shoot us in front of the kids, do you?" Sullivan commented with a frown.

Dipper suddenly felt offended. He's shorter indeed, but he's twelve years old to be called a 'kiddie'.

Stan glared at the middle-aged man, before he looked at his nephews, still with his furrowed eyebrows. The kids thought it means they're now in big trouble. But Stan just let out a tiring sigh, before he kneeled next to Mabel and ruffled her hair, much to her surprise.

"I'm sorry for scaring you pumpkin, alright? But right now I need you go back to your bedroom and I'll handle this. Don't worry, this time I'll take it slow to not startle you again."

The reassuring tone of his voice luckily made Mabel calm down, as she wiped her tears. Dipper was relief and glad that it turned out better than he expected.

Stan turned his attention back to Nathan and Sullivan. "And there's something I just want to make this clear, this is loaded with bean bags. Non-lethal, but I'll make sure I shoot you where you wish I shouldn't."

Mabel gasped in horror. "No, please! Don't shoot to the pretty boy's face! He's too handsome to be harmed in that way!" Mabel begged on her knees.

Nathan and Sullivan went speechless when she openly defended Nathan's complexion. Sullivan couldn't help but chuckle, while his young partner was just stunned. He doesn't know if he should feel flattered or embarrassed.

"What? No, I meant their-their" Stan suddenly realized that he was about to say something that the kids shouldn't know. He shook his head and waved his hand. "Nevermind. Now, I'm gonna ask you for the last time, what are you doing in my house?" His tone had a hint of impatience.

"L-Listen, Stan, if that's your real name." Nathan said.

"It's Mr. Pines to you." Stan retorted.

"Right. Mr. Pines, we didn't mean to disturb you, and your kids, and we are very sorry about how the things just went down. But if you give us just one moment to explain, maybe we can come into an agreement." Nathan attempted to address the situation

Stan's face grew thoughtful, but staring warily at Nathan if he could spot a lie behind his words. He still doesn't have the trust to believe what they're going to say, but after realizing they were taking his personal cane only, instead of his money or something else, his mind was already filled up with many questions. Therefore, he thought they don't want to leave unless he gives them just one chance.

He noticed Dipper and Mabel were still here. "What are you kids doing here? I said go back to your room. Now." He said with a commanding tone.

"What? B-But I also want to know what's going on!" Dipper complained like a toddler wanting to have a new toy.

Stan turned to Dipper sternly. "Listen, kid. This matter is only between man to man, and a teenager." He pointed to Nathan. "And I need you to stay out of this. Now go upstairs and go to your room. End of discussion."

Dipper wanted to reply, but he knew it's hopeless to try to convince his uncle. Without anything to add, he turned around and made his way towards the staircase. Mabel hastily followed her brother, but at the same time she was a little surprised Dipper didn't complain more like usual; probably because it doesn't have anything related with the mystery stuff he's always obsessed about.

Mabel stopped her tracks for a moment to look at Nathan, a little sad that she lost another chance to talk with him, and surely when he leaves the shack, she won't be seeing him again. She continued to walk forward until she went upstairs.

After the kids left, Stan sat back in his armchair. "I'm listening. But I warn you, no lies."

* * *

When Mabel was already in the upper floor, she saw Dipper running through the hallway, meaning he was not intending to go back to his room since the beginning. She reacted quickly and began to follow his tracks, leading her to another set of stairs which leads to the attic room, and then she found him about to go outside by the red stained glass window.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mabel called out and ran up to him

Dipper sighed, as he let go his hand off the handle and turned around to face her. "I'm going up to the roof and I'm gonna get the answers before I'll miss the important detail." He answered with a serious frown.

"Whoa, whoa, now hold your uncontrollable sense of curiosity you have!" She replied with her hands held up. "Are you seriously gonna take the risk of making Grunkle Stan go nuts when he sees your face again? I know sometimes we did that before, but I think this is a bad time to do this now."

Dipper walked closer to her, before he placed his hands on her shoulders to look at his sister intently. "Mabel, I understand your concern, but you gotta listen to me. When you said those guys don't look like they're burglars, you made me realize that they must have a reason to come all the way from somewhere to be here. You can call me crazy, but what if they know something about the Journal or something we don't know? I mean, don't you wanna find out what are they're looking for?"

"Well… When you put that in that way, I think I'm now curious to know. But I'm tired and I need to go to the bed." Mabel wearily rubbed her eyes.

Dipper let go of her shoulders. "Me too, Mabel. But think about it, this is for the sake of our uncle if they tell him a secret related to the Journal. Besides, don't you wanna make sure he will let that good-looking guy go?"

Mabel suddenly stared back at his brother in surprise at his question. When was the last time he does care about any of her previous ex-boyfriends? She knew it was only an attempt so he could convince her to come with him. However, she can't help but think he's right. What if Grunkle Stan will call the police and send the nice young man to jail behind her back? Just thinking about it wouldn't let her have a quiet sleep.

"On second thought, I'm going to take the risk." She answered with her furrowed eyebrows to show her courage.

Dipper smirked and nodded his head. "Good, now follow me and watch your step."

Then, Dipper opened the glass window and went outside with Mabel. They were standing on a pent roof, before they started to climb up the sloping roof, until they found a couple of wooden boards nailed on a part of the side.

"Hey, isn't that same hole I made when I accidentally shoot my grappling hook to the ceiling?" Mabel asked when she remembered the little incident about a week ago.

"That's right, but luckily thanks to you, here we can see the living room and hear their confession. Come on, help me take these off."

The twins began to remove with struggle the planks, while having careful to not make a sound when they were pulling out the nails off the surface as well. After that, they took a peek through the gaping hole and they could see their uncle and the couple of strangers below. Then, they remained quiet.

"Okay, so let me bring this up again," Stan said with his bemused expression. "You guys are in the middle of a quest of looking for some kind of a lost object, and you were looking for my cane because you believe there's a new clue inside of this thing that would help you with your investigation?" He pointed to the eight-ball.

Nathan nodded with his head. "Yeah, that's what I was saying. When we learned you always carry that cane around, we thought you would never let us borrow it, even if we ask you, so we didn't have another choice but to sneak into your house and take it."

"Unfortunately, and obviously, that plan didn't go well as we thought." Sullivan added.

Stan narrowed his eyes, as he was analyzing the teenager's statement. He grumbled as he rubbed his eyes with his fingers.

"I'm going to be honest with you, if this is some kind of a cheap story about legends and stuff, you would do a very good job if you work for me. And where did you get that about Gravity Falls and my cane? Do you have any evidence about that?" He asked with a challenging tone.

Nathan looked at Sullivan, unsure if he should give more information. Sullivan just shrugged his shoulders in response, meaning it's not his decision to think how the boy should answer. The younger Drake sighed and stood up to walk towards Stan, as his hand shoved into his pocket. He handed a piece of paper to Stan, who raised his eyebrow before he took it.

"Here, we found this inside of a bottle on the bottom of a lake. And before you say anything, just take a closer look. You notice it's deteriorated for years, so there's no way I would make up something like that, if that's what you think." Nathan said as he stood beside the scammer old man.

Stan began to read the message which addresses the person who found the paper. But suddenly, he began to notice the calligraphy looks strangely familiar, like he knew exactly who wrote this letter. He had to keep his frown to hide his true reaction, though he inwardly asked himself what kind of mess that person has gotten into.

"And what the heck is this?" He pointed to the series of numbers under the message.

"It's a cryptogram puzzle." Nathan replied. "What I did was translating the numbers into letters to decipher the secret message. Later, we discovered it was a riddle which describes the next place, before I learned it was here, in Gravity Falls. But the riddle also says that the next clue finds inside the infinite. And after we watched your commercial with you with your cane, that was when I got the idea that the eight-ball is the answer."

Stan looked at Nathan, still wearing his confused expression. Then, he shifted his gaze towards Sullivan, before the treasure hunter knew that he was asking for an opinion.

"Hey, I know it's hard to believe what the kid is saying, but I trust what he's doing. If I'd have to resolve that riddle by myself, I wouldn't be here right by now." Sullivan responded.

Stan remained silent, as he looked back down at the message. But then, he stood up from his chair with the shotgun in his hand, and took a few steps to his left side, without taking his eyes off the paper. Nathan only crossed his arms to wait for the old man's answer.

"One last question, do you have an idea who wrote this?" Stan turned his head over his shoulder.

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "We have no clue who we're dealing with, and we don't even know why someone's leaving us puzzles and riddles. But the only thing I can be sure, it looks like there's something very peculiar about that artifact to hide it." He shared the theory.

After a moment of silence, Stan turned around and walked up to Nathan to deliver him the paper. Nathan kept the paper back into his pocket, but before he would say anything, Stan picked up the eight-ball cane and shoved it into the boy's chest.

"You got yourself a minute." Stan sat back down in his armchair and crossed his arms.

Dipper and Mabel went surprised what just happened. They don't remember their uncle allowing strangers to do something after giving that kind of explanation that any person would find it unconvincing. Maybe he's testing if what Nathan said is completely accurate. However, Dipper asked himself why Grunkle Stan could be now curious about enigmas.

Nathan blinked, dumbfounded, only to realize the time Stan gave it to him was running out. He scrutinized every part of the cane to find some sort of a switch, but as he felt the countdown, he began to fear he would find nothing. But when he saw the number eight of the billiard ball, before remembering the reference of the riddle, he touched the number with his fingers and twisted.

Surprisingly, a click sound was heard, before Nathan realized that the number eight has changed into the infinity symbol. Turned out the center of the ball was a rotating mechanism, but the revelation has just started when the upper half of the billiard ball suddenly opened, revealing a piece of an old parchment folded.

Nathan gasped in surprise, but at the same time amazed that his theory was absolutely correct.

"Holy crap! Where'd this come from?!" Stan exclaimed, jumping up from his chair.

Dipper and Mabel closed their ears before they were about to hear a swear from their uncle.

"Well, I'll be damned! How come you're always right?" Sullivan commented proudly to Nathan.

"No way! Something was hidden inside of that cane all this time?!" Dipper couldn't hold back the shock, but managed to keep his voice down.

"What do you think it says?" Mabel asked to the smart brother.

"I don't know, but I bet this must be from the Author himself!" Dipper answered with a joyful grin. "Hush! Hush! He's about to read it!"

Nathan took the parchment out of the container, as he handed the cane back to Stan, trying to contain his excitement to find out what's on the new clue. But at the moment when he already unfolded the parchment, his expression abruptly changed into shock.

"What the hell…?" The boy muttered.

"What's wrong, kid?" Sullivan asked with an eyebrow raised, as he stood up and approached him.

"It's… It's blank!" Nathan showed the parchment to Sullivan, but there was nothing written on it.

"What? Gimmie that!" Stan snatched it from Nathan's hand. "What kind of joke is this?" He growled.

"Why are you now interested all of a sudden?" Sullivan said with a questioning look.

Stan glared at him. "Because I just learned that the same person who led you here also did something to my cane I carried for thirty friggin' years! And the next thing I know, you find nothing but a worthless blank paper!" He snapped, before he threw the cane to the ground.

"Alright, will you both stop arguing for a sec' and let me think?" Nathan shouted. Then, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I know this doesn't make sense, but let's not jump into conclusions. Maybe there's something more than a mere blank paper, it could be another secret message. So the only thing we have to do is to expose it somehow."

"Do you know how to do it?" Sullivan asked to the suppose expert of puzzles.

Nathan remained speechless for a moment. "To be honest, I don't know. There's some ways to do that though, but we don't have to screw the paper if we do all of them." He let out a sigh and then he kept the new clue inside his pocket. "I guess we have to do some research to find out what kind of invisible ink the message has."

Meanwhile, back on the roof, Dipper couldn't wear off the surprise expression from his face, even though his brain was asking him to go back to the bed right now. He knew the only reason why the paper is blank, and also what exactly the only way to expose the secret message is.

"Mabel, do you know what we just heard means?" He asked his sister.

"Yeah… I could use that cane to deliver surprise messages to my friends!" Mabel said cheerfully, completely clueless what her brother was actually asking her.

Dipper narrowed his eyes, not even remotely surprised. "I shouldn't expect a better answer from you." He said and shook his head. "It means the Author must have written that paper with invisible ink, just like he did with the Journals!"

Mabel only blinked, before she finally understood his point. "Oooooohhh… So?" Or not.

Dipper slapped his hand on his face. But he had to calm down and just giving her more details.

"We have the UV-A light, right? It's our only tool to discover secret messages, and maybe it will work on that paper they just found."

"Okay, time out, time out." Mabel made a gesture like a referee. "What are you suggesting?"

Dipper remained silent, when he just realized he was talking about taking the blank paper from the strangers. Therefore, he would start more trouble and drag his sister into it, though it's not his true intention. His obsession with the Author's message recently discovered almost blinded him before he would do something unwise. He still wanted to see that message, but he considered to come up an option to avoid getting troubled.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud crack noise, before he noticed a small crack, near where he was standing. But then, more cracks appeared and surrounded the twins, making them froze.

"D-Dipper…" Mabel spoke nervously, urging to move out of the roof, but afraid that she's gonna fall if she tries it.

"C-Calm down, we should be careful and-"

It was too late when the part of the roof suddenly collapsed and they fell down while screaming.

Stan and the treasure hunters went alarmed and looked up, before they saw two shadows falling down from a gaping hole of the roof.

"Aw cra-..." Nathan didn't finish his line when the kids landed on him, before some fragments of tiles and torn wood beams rained down around the living room.

Stan and Sullivan coughed, waving their hands when they were temporally blinded by the dust. But when the dust was clearing up, they found two children on top of Nathan. They were a little stunned, but at least they don't seem they're hurt, except that Nathan felt he was crushed by two ten pound bags of potatoes.

Dipper moaned as he got on his feet, rubbing his spine after something that cushioned his fall didn't turn out to be cushy.

"What the… You kids again?!" Stan yelled in disbelief, after he saw clearly that they were his nephews.

"It was Dipper's idea!" After Mabel recovered from the fall, she pointed her finger at her twin brother.

"Mabel!" Dipper turned to her, in the mix of anger and disbelief of being backstabbed. But then he realized Grunkle Stan was shooting daggers at him, making him shudder.

"Ughh… My back…"

Mabel heard someone groaning, before she realized that she was sitting something bumpy, she looked down and gasped when she saw Nathan regaining his consciousness. She hastily got off the teenager and watched him sitting up and rubbing his back.

When Nathan cracked his eyes open, he saw the same little girl who showed up moments ago, diverting her eyes nervously, as she tried to open her mouth to say something. She wanted to say sorry or make a joke to cheer him up, but she was afraid he might be upset to accept her apology or laugh. However, she didn't know that he was just puzzled, wondering why she's so nervous.

"Uh… Hello there." Nathan awkwardly greeted the little girl, giving her a small smile.

Her fear immediately changed into shock. He was definitely the first guy who would be the first to say something to her. This was such a mind-blowing moment that made her unable to think what she should answer, as she was yelling inside of her mind "He talked to me!" a lot of times.

Suddenly, Mabel rolled her eyes to the back of her head and fainted with a sigh. Dipper gasped before he checked on her.

"I-I didn't do anything, I swear!" Nathan held his hands up to Stan, to avoid a misunderstanding.

"Mabel? Mabel, are you okay?" Dipper shook her to wake her up.

"Alright, I've had enough!" Stan yelled, hitting the top of the TV to get everyone's attention. "I don't wanna stay awake until morning, so I want to get the bottom of this once it for all." He glared at Dipper. "Starting with you. Did you and your sister hear everything?"

"Everything." Dipper answered with a shameful look.

Stan scolded at the boy, but sighed. "I should have known you wouldn't listen to me anyway. You are so lucky I am not your parent, so I'm gonna let it slide. But only one condition, you and Mabel will never tell anyone about what happened here and what you heard. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Grunkle Stan! I promise!" Dipper swore, this time without crossing his fingers behind his back.

Stan nodded. "Now, as for you." The owner of the Mystery Shack turned to Nathan and Sullivan. "You got what you needed, so you are free to go. But from now on you are banned from my store."

"Okay, firstly, we don't care about your shop and honestly we don't mind." Sullivan responded. "And secondly, we would totally leave, but…" He trailed off.

"I think our car is not working when we tried to escape." Nathan finished the sentence for him.

"And there's no way we're gonna have to push our car all the way across the forest at this time. So…" Sullivan added.

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you asking me if you can stay here?" Stan inquired, not very convinced with that idea.

"Um… Maybe?" Nathan shrugged with a forceful smile.

Mabel suddenly widened her eyes with a gasp after hearing Nathan's answer, before she jumped up, startling Dipper with a yelp by her sudden movement. And before Stan was going to answer, she stood beside him and gripped his shirt.

"Please, let them stay with us! You know it's not safe going out to the woods at night because there are bad wolves out there! I promise I won't try to eat your favorite cupcakes anymore! Please, don't be a bad person and give them a chance! Please, please!" Mabel began to plead to Grunkle Stan, not hiding her excitement to have Nathan stay in the shack.

Nathan and Sullivan were perplexed what they were watching, only Dipper was not too surprised because he knew Mabel would do anything to keep that young man closer to her. He wanted to object, but she has a point about the wolves. Though he didn't have trouble when a wolf was biting his leg, he thought they would have a worse outcome.

Stan stepped away from Mabel to stop gripping his shirt "Alright, fine, you win! Gosh! There's no point arguing with you, after all." He turned back to Nathan and Sullivan. "You can stay here until Soos finishes repairing your piece of junk. But if you make another mess again in my house, I swear I'm done being a nice guy. Did I make myself clear?"

"Transparently." Sullivan stated with a frown.

"Good. But you're not allowed to go sleep in our rooms. That means you got to stay here." Stan replied, much to Mabel's disappointment since she wanted Nathan to stay in her bedroom, though Dipper wouldn't agree.

"Wait, where we suppose to sleep?" Nathan demanded, when he noticed there were no couches in the living room.

"How should I know? Sleep on the floor or something, but you will never use my chair!" Stan pointed at his favorite armchair.

"I think we rather sleep in our car." Sullivan retorted.

Stan only shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself. Come on kids, tomorrow we're gonna have a really busy day with our guests here." Then, he made his way towards his bedroom as he went upstairs.

Dipper was about to follow Grunkle Stan, but then he saw Mable approaching Nathan, before he let out a sight when he know what she's going to do.

"Hello there! My name is Mabel! It's nice to meet you! Your hair looks cool by the way! What's your name! Do you like turtles? What is your favorite color? Do you wear sweaters? I can make you a new one if you want to!"

Nathan was completely baffled, as he took a few steps back. He didn't understand what was wrong with the girl all of a sudden. When he tried to speak, she interrupts him with a new question. He glanced at Sullivan, with a look of asking him for help. But the man just gave him a shrug, meaning he's on his own.

"Alright Mabel, that's enough. You can talk to him whenever you want in the morning!" Dipper dragged his sister away from Nathan.

"Fine…" Mabel said, but she turned back to Nathan with a cheerful smile and waved at him. "Good night, my future boyfriend!" Then she went upstairs.

"Wait, what did she say?!" Nathan couldn't help but express the disbelief and panic.

"Don't mind her," Dipper spoke to the teenager. "She's always like that when she talks to a guy. As long as you don't get too close to her, you'll be fine."

"Huh… Thanks, I guess." Nathan hesitantly took the advice.

"Well… Good night." Without anything to add, Dipper was the last person to go upstairs, leaving the treasure hunters alone.

Nathan and Sullivan looked at each other, like they're waiting if one of them would ask or comment about the circumstances they're now dealing with.

"You know, kid… I would make fun of you that you got yourself an admirer, but right now I'm so dead tired to do that." Sullivan said under his breath.

"Yeah… But I'm the one who feels like I'm about to pass out." Nathan replied when he felt his eyes getting heavier. "Let's just go to our car and sleep."

Sullivan nodded in agreement, and so they made their way to the exit. After getting out of the shack, they got into their car and tilted their seats to lie down. They're not comfortable as the beds from the hotel, but at least they're good enough instead of sleeping on the hard floor.

As Nathan was shifting to have a good position to sleep, he couldn't help but think the bizarre family he just met is going to get involved, which is going to be a huge problem if the client would find out about it. But suddenly, he realized one thing that brings an important question.

Why the kids were peeking on the roof?

**To Be Continued…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you have it, I really hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for the next chapter when the Pine Twins are now going to become part of Nathan's adventure, a new secret they will find and of course, when Nathan will going to see Wendy again :D
> 
> If you really enjoying my story, please leave a review, follow, favorite, and/or share to your friends.
> 
> See you later guys.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry our beloved Pine Twins didn't make the appearance, but it was necessary to start the story. But don't worry, we'll see them in the next chapter ;)
> 
> By the way I want to give credit to MischiefLily, an artist from Deviantart who made a fanart of the travel brochure of Gravity Falls, that gave me an idea of how Nathan and Sullivan go to that town. If you are reading this, I want to thank you, I wouldn't be able to continue the story without you.
> 
> Well, I hope my effort did please you with the result, more interesting things will come, and prepare yourselves for a new pairing in this story ;D


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